


With His Strength

by WhatSaidWho



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Being Walked In On, Broken Bones, Caretaking, Coming In Pants, Coming Untouched, Cunnilingus, Dan Finds Out, Don't Read This, Dream Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally hurt Lucifer, F/M, First Time, Hurt Chloe Decker, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Lucifer is a good caretaker, Lucifer is always horny, Massage, Masturbation, Masturbation Interruptus, Maze is a great wing woman, Medical Procedures, Pregnant Sex, Premature Ejaculation, Slow Burn, Unplanned Pregnancy, Whump, Wing Kink, if you're squeamish with bone breaks, sex injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:46:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24052312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatSaidWho/pseuds/WhatSaidWho
Summary: An edited repost of "Strength", broken down into chapters with added content.--Lucifer and Chloe's first time doesn't go to plan. Or Lucifer and Chloe have sex and Lucifer gets a little carried away and accidentally breaks Chloe.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 112
Kudos: 269





	1. The Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Strength](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23537500) by [WhatSaidWho](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatSaidWho/pseuds/WhatSaidWho). 



> If this seems familiar, it's because I am editing and breaking down my previous story, "Strength", into chapters with the intent to add more to the story (especially at the end). These chapters should come fairly quickly as I am just editing and making minor plot changes to what I already had.  
> \--  
> Potential trigger warning: There is in depth mentions of bruising and injuries as a result of sex throughout the story. These injuries include a broken femur and pelvis, written in detail. If this isn't your thing, maybe rethink reading! That being said, I don't think it would be considered "graphic" in terms of blood and gore. Everything is talked about from a medical perspective. I'll try to post more chapter specific warnings as I go.

The first time that Lucifer slept with Chloe was quite unlike anything else he’d ever done. Of course he’d had sex before, but there was something different about sex with Chloe. In hindsight, he should’ve expected that. Everything was different with Chloe.

She makes him bloody mortal. Why wouldn’t that change things in the bedroom?

Every kiss is intensified ten-fold and that’s just the kisses. When she runs her hand down his chest and sculpted torso, he finds himself clenching his jaw from the new sensations. Then she wraps her hand around his cock and he about jumps out of his skin. He was quick to assure her she did nothing wrong, but in his haste to reassure her, he never stopped to think. Never stopped to think about what it meant for himself and what it could potentially mean for the both of them; for her. He bumbled through the foreplay like a blushing virgin with extreme focus on just trying not to end things prematurely and show her a good time. When he went down on her, his confidence came back. His skills were not totally diminished when it was her on the receiving end. He brought her over the edge just once before he was so hard that he was certain he would explode if he didn’t fuck her this instant. Another red flag; another misstep. When he voiced his opinion on the matter, she seemed overly eager to agree. For all his fumbling, she seemed to be having a good enough time. He lined himself up and thrust in. That’s when it all went to hell. (Maybe not literally, but the metaphor was apt.)

When he sheathed himself in her, the feeling was too great, and he didn’t even make it all the way in before he was experiencing what was definitely the best orgasm of his long, long life. He had never in his eons of life experienced what he was experiencing. Wings made themselves known, which he’d only found out about later when he saw the loose feathers on the floor. It was like every one of his senses was turned to eleven. The sensation was blinding and deafening and all he could focus on was her wet heat engulfing him.

In the back of his mind, he could vaguely hear…something. His monkey brain recognized that it was her making the noises, but he paid it no mind in his ecstasy. How could he when all he could truly hear was the blood pounding against his ear drums. Looking back at it, oh how he wished he would’ve paid the distant sound some attention. It was a shout louder than the rest that finally shook him out of his post-coital haze. When he regained the ability to focus his eyes, he looked down on the Detective beneath him. To his utter dismay, he saw fat tears parading down her cheeks. Her body was twisting and writing beneath him but not in the fun way. Rather, it seemed she was desperately trying to get away from him and his heart leaped into his throat. He muttered out a “what’s wr— “before he looked down and saw the source of her pain.

In his moment of bliss, he had forgotten his strength. A mistake that has never been made. Even with Eve, his first. The hand that was holding onto her hip and the other on her thigh had buried themselves into her skin. When his mind-numbing finish happened, he gripped her to keep her close, but she is human, and her body wasn’t made to handle his strength. There were already nasty bruises forming under his hands, and he watched as small crimson droplets gathered around his right hand where his fingernails bit angrily into her flesh. When he saw the extent of what he had done, he sprung backwards (and consequently out of her) so fast that his head spun. His mouth worked to get apologies out, but he was left gaping like a fish as no sound was made. He was panicking now. His eyesight was narrowing dangerously, and all of his thoughts swirled with his vision. He heard Chloe cry out in pain again and he raced over to his nightstand where his phone was sitting and dialed 911. The operator’s standard bored greeting of “911, what’s your emergency” had the metal of his phone crackling as his hand squeezed down on it in a mixture of frustration and anger. He gave his address and brief description of the injury before hanging up. He walked over to Chloe who was near hysterical in pain and he felt the fat tears of his own falling down his face. He didn’t know when the mantra started, and he could barely hear himself over the sound of his pounding heart, but at some point he started whispering “I’m sorry” over and over to her. He wasn’t even sure if she could hear him. The bruises are darkening at an alarming rate and there’s some swelling over her thigh and he sinks to the ground beside the bed as he slams his eyes shut in a feeble attempt to pretend none of this happened. Nothing is happening. If he can’t see it, it can’t be real, right? But, alas, he knows that’s not the case.

He quickly pulled his pants on and replaced his wings with empty air before the paramedics arrived. Not so much for his modesty so much as an attempt to ward off the humans that would be infatuated with him upon a glance. They all were. The paramedics rush into the penthouse as soon as the elevator doors open with a “ting”. They look over the scene quickly and then rush over to the bed and attempt to talk to Chloe, but she’s making nonsensical sounds in her agony and they’re unable to gain any information from her outside of her physical presentation.

Lucifer leaves his room under the guise of giving them more space to work, but in reality, he couldn’t stand to see her continue to writhe in pain as they splinted her leg and transferred her to the small stretcher. He hesitated before he followed the paramedics into the elevator and watched as they covered Chloe’s nakedness up with a thin sheet to allow her some privacy and dignity. As they wheeled her out of Lux into the waiting ambulance, Lucifer dialed Dan’s number and hesitated before calling. He deserved to know, but Lucifer didn’t want yet one more person to know what he did, albeit unintentionally. He hit call and stepped into the overly crowded ambulance. Lucifer made himself as small as possible, which is a remarkably large feat when the angel is as lanky as he is.

When the line clicked indicating that the call was live, Lucifer exhaled a shaky breath. Dan must have picked up on it because he was talking first. He wasn’t a detective for nothing.

“Lucifer, what happened?” the detective asked with a hardened voice, skipping all pleasantries.

“It’s Chloe. She’s…hurt. We’re in an ambulance. We’re heading to the hospital.” Lucifer realized as he spoke that his voice was weaker and wavering more than it ever has, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care when he watched the paramedics insert an IV into Chloe’s arm with what he can only hope is some serious pain medication.

Dan recognizes the fear in Lucifer’s voice, and it makes his stomach drop. The guy who claimed to be the actual Devil wasn’t afraid of anything. He’s seen Lucifer jump in front of a gun on multiple occasions. Clearly whatever happened was serious. “What hospital? What happened? Is she going to be okay?” Dan rattles off question after question as Lucifer’s eyes stay trained on the professionals wrapping Chloe’s leg with tape to keep the splint in place and gauze pads around her bleeding waist.

Lucifer grimaces as he responds. “The closest one to Lux, I’m assuming. She suffered an injury to her hip and upper leg. As far as I can tell, it’s not life threatening but I’m no bloody doctor. I called because I know that’s what she would’ve wanted me to do.”

With that, he hung up. Lucifer’s breath hitched. Was it life threatening? He told Dan it wasn’t, but he didn’t know what veins and arteries and major organs could be crushed before a human body couldn’t repair itself. He was relying on the cold walls of the corner of the ambulance to hold him up, because he wasn’t sure how much more he could stand.

Even with the terrible traffic, it wasn’t much longer after that that the ambulance was pulling up to the emergency room entrance. Benefits of having flashing lights and sirens. When the doors opened up, there was a flurry of hospital personnel and Lucifer got out of the way as fast as possible. But he no more than stepped out of the vehicle than he had hands on him. When he whipped around, there was Dan and, to his surprise, Ella.

Dan pulled him aside as they watched the paramedics unload Chloe from the ambulance and wheel her into the hospital. Sometime during the trip there, Chloe either fell unconscious or the mysterious cocktail of drugs they injected her with were enough to stop her writhing. Her skin tone was an uncomfortable pallor. As soon as the swarm of medical staff slowed, the trio followed the gurney through the sliding glass doors into the emergency room where they were quickly stopped by a middle-aged nurse wearing a no-nonsense face.

“Ah-ah, I don’t think so. Direct family only” she said with a critical eyebrow. “That room is already packed. I can take maybe one of you back.”

Ella held her hands up in surrender, backing up, leaving what she thought was going to be an argument. Dan and Lucifer looked at each other, but as soon as Dan was opening his mouth to make his case, Lucifer shocked everyone when he cut him off. “Go. I’ll stay with Ms. Lopez.”

A quick questioning glance from Dan let Lucifer know that his detective senses were firing on all cylinders and that there would undoubtedly be more questions later, but he let it pass for now. Lucifer watched as the nurse let Dan past the locked doors that led into the rest of the hospital and then turned to Ella who was staring at him pointedly.

Lucifer sighed and then led Ella to the far corner of the waiting room where it was mostly empty. As soon as they were surrounded by the fake shroud of privacy, Lucifer found himself face to face with a very pissed off Ella.

“Lucifer, if you hurt her, juro por Dios que te golpearé dentro de una pulgada de tu vida, pendejo” she yells at him in rapid fire Spanish.

Lucifer simply bows his head as he lets Ella’s slaps rain across his chest. Ella reems to realize that he had no intention of fighting back and she took a step away from him, suddenly calm. “Okay dude fess up. What happened?”

Lucifer sighed and sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs. Ella follows his lead and sits catty-corner to him as she waits for his response. And waits. And waits. Until suddenly she lets out a groan of impatience and kicks Lucifer, not lightly, in the shin.

If anything, he seemed to relish in the pain. “If your threat holds any clout, then begin your torture, Ms. Lopez. I was the one who hurt the detective.”

His face was so crestfallen and his expression so pitiful that Ella knew there was more to the story. Lucifer didn’t lie, but he also didn’t always tell the whole truth. “But you didn’t want to hurt her.”

He looked stricken at that and another ambulance must’ve drove by, because she could’ve sworn she saw the reflection of the red sirens in his eyes. “Of _course not._ I would never willingly try to inflict pain on the detective. She doesn’t deserve punishment.”

Ella just barely held back the urge to roll her eyes at his “devil” shtick, not wanting to push him any further than he has already been. “Then what happened?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s a rather personal matter. It should be the detective’s choice what she tells people. It’s her story.”

Ella nodded and the two of them sat in a thick silence for about a half hour before Dan walked back into the room towards them. Lucifer stood upon his entry and his eyes grew wide, but he remained silent. “They’re still working with her. She was out of it, but they switched pain meds and she’s awake now. They said something about “personal questions” and asked me to leave the room.” Dan’s eyebrows furrowed with seriousness. “Look man, you’re going to need to start talking. I need the full story here. Chloe wants to see you, but I want to talk out here. Away from her.”

The Devil’s eyes seem to glaze after Dan announced that Chloe was awake. All Lucifer could think about was that she wasn’t dead. He didn’t kill her. And by Daniel’s lack of urgency and no update on emergency surgery or anything of the like, he felt safe to assume that Chloe wasn’t going to die right now. He felt sick that the news was reassuring to him; he shouldn’t have had to worry about whether or not he could have _killed her_. Regardless, he found himself turning back to the doors, ignoring Dan’s protests, announcing he needed air and walking outside.

She wasn’t in immediate danger. There was nothing he could do anyways. Even a feather from his wing can’t help her because he was the one who caused it and the injuries weren’t caused by a celestial weapon. Looking around, he saw that no one followed him outside. He walked around the corner of the building that shielded him from any potential prying eyes from the road or parking garage and spread his wings, taking to the sky. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he needed to get away from here.

Seemingly on autopilot, he found himself back at Lux. He felt the panic rising as he walked through the balcony doors up on the penthouse. His vision was narrowing to a worrying degree. It was his undoing when he stepped in further in the living area and saw the small streaks of blood that tracked on his floor in his bedroom. The blood from where his fingernails dug into her skin. The stretcher must have caught some on its wheel. With the memory at the forefront of his mind, his room spun, and his body hit the floor.


	2. The Discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note. This story and "Strength" are extremely similar, but there are some differences. There will be more differences in the end chapters. This story is slotted for ten chapters, but I'm hoping it ends up closer to fifteen or twenty chapters. I know there will be ten for sure though!

It was nearly four hours until he came to, making it five hours that have passed since the beginning of the worst night of his life. He reached for his phone in his pocket and realized he must have left it in the ambulance or hospital. He resigned himself to laying there on his floor for a while before pulling himself together and rolling over to his back before sitting up slowly, grimacing as the room continued to spin haphazardly. It was then he realized he wasn’t alone in his home.

Maze was sitting behind his bar nursing a cup with a light amber liquid in it. She raised one meticulously kept eyebrow at him before downing the rest of the drink in a single swallow.

“You’re awake. Good. Thought Decker finally killed you” she remarked dryly.

At the mention of her name, he felt new tears stinging his eyes but held them back in front of his friend. But it didn’t matter because Maze noticed and was surprisingly _not_ apathetic.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I hurt her” he responded lamely.

Her gaze turned dangerous as she made her way around the bar. “What happened.” It wasn’t a question, even if the phrasing suggested it was. It was a warning. She was really saying, “ _If I don’t find your answer acceptable, you’ll be making a new knife block for my hell forged blades_.”

He once again found his previously unknown masochism run rampant as he got excited at the thought of being punished for his terrible deeds. “I…I lost control. She makes me mortal, but she doesn’t take my strength. I-I couldn’t— I’d never felt anything like it. Not even with Eve. And then,” his voice wavers and gets small, “I hurt her. I wasn’t thinking. I _couldn’t_ think.” Looking up at his friend, his eyes showed a depth that Maze had only ever seen on his face when he killed his brother. “It was bad, Maze.”

“Will she live? Where is she?”

“She’s at the hospital I think. I don’t know, I haven’t seen— they only let one person with her. Daniel. I couldn’t see her like that” he spit out with disgust as Maze scoffed. “When Daniel told me that she was in good care, I left.”

“Why? Why are you here and not there?”

He took on a manic look as he looked at the demon. He stood to his full height before he repeated his earlier sentiment. “I can never see her again. Every time she looks at me now, she’ll merely come face to face with her abuser. My very presence will be a reminder of what I’ve done. I have no choice. I must leave.”

“Did Decker have anything to say about all of this? Did she ask you to leave?”

Lucifer hesitated. He knew what game Maze was playing. “No. She told Daniel she wanted to see me, but like I’ve said. She can’t.”

Maze’s eyes widen. “Oh, shit. You blinded her?”

Lucifer drops his forehead painfully against the wall. “No, Mazikeen. The detective is still capable of sight. I just have no wish to see her face widen in fear when she sees me again.”

“Oh, so you’re just gonna ditch her cause you’re _scared_. The _Devil. Scared._ That’s awesome. But no, nice move. The classic “hurt and skrrt”. It’s a real winner.

“You really, truly think she’s ever going to want to look at me again after I did what I did? It’s not just for me. I need to run for her too” he rebuts.

Maze scoffs as she turns around back to the elevator. She steps inside and presses the button for her floor before she answers.

“Maybe you should listen to her when she tells you what she needs and stop assuming you know what’s best for her. How are you any better than your father?”

He walks across the room to lean against the couch. He runs his hand roughly through his hair, unleashing it from all the product. Feeling deserving of the pain that comes with the feeling, he fists his hand tighter and pulls violently at his hair just shy of ripping chunks out. He takes a deep, shaky breath and decides Maze is right before he walks slowly across the penthouse to his bathroom. His arm skates along the wall as he walks to keep himself steady in the room that’s turning like a top.

He changes out of the ill-fitting shirt that the paramedics lent to him and the pants that he threw on in haste into a crimson button down and dark washed jeans. Extremely casual by his standards but he didn’t want to think about pocket squares, ties, and cuff links right now. He brushed the taste of the bile that’s been rising in the back of his throat out of his mouth. He left his hair wild and untamed. Sliding on a pair of black loafers, he allowed himself a once-over in the mirror. He looked good, he always looked good, but he looked like someone put him through the ringer. He supposed he did that to himself. Leaving the bathroom, he summoned the elevator to take him to the parking level of Lux.

On his way to the hospital, he felt more and more anxious with every mile his car crept. When he stepped into the building and asked for Chloe’s room number, he no longer felt like he was even in his own body. By the time he made it to her room, he was quite certain he was living in his own hell loop. He couldn’t believe there was one worse than his previous hell loop, yet here he was.

He heard the voices of Dan and Chloe before he saw them, and those dreadful tears that stung at the back of his eyes made a reappearance. Blasted things. He knocked a gentle two taps against the door that was left ajar, hoping against hope that no one would hear, and he would excuse himself again. Unfortunately, he heard Chloe’s soft “come in”, yet he found that he couldn’t will his legs to move. Dan repeated her sentiment a little louder and Lucifer finally found the willpower to take a step forward. And then another. And then he was in her hospital room, but he was staring firmly at his own feet.

He could hear Chloe’s surprised, yet concerned voice saying just his name at the same time as he heard the chair that Dan must have been sitting in scrape loudly against the floor. He felt the other man’s fist connect with his jaw and he allowed himself to crumple to the floor for the second time that day.

Chloe yelled “Dan!” but Dan, but her protest was in vein because the male detective must not have been expecting the Devil to just drop into a ball and begin sobbing silently because he made no further attempt to accost Lucifer. In fact, the only other sounds in the room besides Lucifer’s racking breaths were Dan’s whispered “oh, shit” and the beeping of the machine hooked up to Chloe. After a tense minute, Chloe asked Dan if she could have the room for just her and Lucifer for a second. Dan protested weakly, but Chloe won out and he left the room quietly and clicked the door shut behind him.

That simple sound broke Lucifer because the silent sobs turned into loud, shaking sobs and mumbled apologies in between labored breaths. Somewhere buried in his brain, Lucifer wondered how he could have fallen so far, but he already knew the answer. The Devil, sobbing on the ground for a _mortal._ He could hear Chloe shushing him, but that was all she could do as he was pushed up against the opposite wall as her and her leg was still splinted, leaving her immobile.

When Lucifer finally caught his breath and found he had no more tears left to cry, he wrapped himself tight into the fetal position and resigned himself to just shake.

Chloe’s heart broke at the sight of him – The Devil – reduced to a pile of wet sobs on the floor. And although now was exactly the wrong time to focus on this, she couldn’t help but silently acknowledge how good he looked. His hair was wild, and he was in such a terrible state, but she couldn’t stop herself from appreciating the way the jeans hugged his legs and the stretch of the simple button-down across his chest.

With her gentle affirmations, he finally calmed down enough to take a deep breath and blink away the tears to look at her. The sight ruined him. She was so small in the hospital bed under the thin sheets they call blankets.

Thankfully, her injuries were quite literally under wraps. He looked at her, deep in her eyes, and said in the strongest tone he could conjure, “I’m so sorry, Chloe. Please believe me. I never meant for _this_.”

She fought back her own tears and she motioned for him to stand up and come closer.

He stood up, but he remained stubbornly planted against the far wall.

“Lucifer, please come over here” she begged.

Almost like a petulant child, he shook his head and still remained planted by the far wall.

She left out a long sigh. “Lucifer, I know this was an accident. You’re not going to hurt me. It’s okay.”

She could see him fighting off tears when he answered. “How could you say that? I already have, Detective. I- I- I’ve broken you.”

“No, you didn’t. Yeah, you may have gotten a little…rougher than I would have liked,” she watched him flinch as if she had physically hit him and rushed to continue, “but you did not break me, Lucifer. I am okay.” And at his pointed glance at her leg, she added “I will be okay.” But still, he did not move.

Eventually, Dan asked to come back in the room after a doctor allowed himself in. Chloe glanced over at Lucifer who remained in the corner looking like a kicked puppy and sighed, granting him entrance. If the doctor thought anything was strange, he didn’t mention it.

The doctor quickly began to go over Chloe’s injuries, not even wasting time to introduce himself to the new man in the room. They stayed silent as the doctor explained that her x-rays showed that she had a stable pelvic fracture along the top of her left ilium and a comminuted fracture in her femur. The pelvic fracture would only require pain medication, _lots_ of pain medication, and bed rest. But the femur fracture would require surgery and months of physical therapy. Unfortunately for Lucifer, the doctor being gun-ho meant that Chloe didn’t have enough time to ask the doctor to wait until Lucifer could leave the room, so he was witness to all the x-rays and bad news. The doctor followed Chloe’s concerned look over to Lucifer and he rushed to assure the Devil that the surgery would be fairly straightforward, and she would be on the road to recovery in no time. Lucifer heard none of it. He was paling more and more after each sentence and he was nearing translucent when the doctor finally left the room.

Dan was too focused on Chloe and the physician the entire time to pay any attention to Lucifer and when he finally did, he groaned and quickly pulled a chair over to Lucifer and gently forced him to take a seat by pushing a hand down on the taller man’s shoulder, lest he faint. Lucifer looked no better sitting down than he did standing up, but at least the risk of him toppling diminished.

Chloe met Dan’s eyes worryingly. Dan looked at Lucifer and sighed.

“Look, man, I don’t know what happened. Chloe has stubbornly refused to say anything and I was hoping she’d give up the ghost when the new pain meds kicked in and she got some clarity back, but she seems to be even more tightlipped now than she was before, so all I know is that you called and said she was hurt and then they kicked me out of the room, which usually means they’re asking a very specific line of questions. Then you ditched and Ella said that _you_ said you did it.” Dan’s face furrowed. “You may think I’m an idiot, but I’m not. When you got out of the ambulance, you were wearing a ‘LA EMS’ t-shirt. That means you either didn’t have a shirt on when you got in the ambulance or it was really messed up and considering the lack of blood on Chloe, I’m going to go with the former. Plus, Chloe didn’t bring any with her either. I know you two have gotten close. If we’re being honest, I knew it was only a matter of time before you started sleeping together. You _were_ sleeping together, right?” Chloe looks over at Lucifer who seems content staring a hole into the floor, but they both nod minutely. “ _But_ if someone doesn’t give me an explanation on how you two went from sleeping together, to my ex-wife’s leg being broken in half and her hip fractured, I’m gonna start drawing some unwelcome conclusions.”

Lucifer stayed uncharacteristically quiet during Dan’s small rant. Only when he knew he was done did Lucifer speak. “Draw your conclusions, Daniel. Better yet, I’ll draw them for you. I did it.” Dan began pacing the small room, and Lucifer’s sorrow turned to ire all too quickly. “Don’t want to believe me? Check her. I’m positive you’ll find a handprint exactly the size of mine on her side. Her thigh as well.”

Dan bit back his gut reaction to fight, knowing that there was more to the story. “Seriously? You’re trying to tell me you did that with your bare hands?” he scoffed. “No way. You’d have to be Superman or something. The femur is the strongest bone in the body and hers is crushed, dude.”

Chloe quickly intervened. “First, would you both stop talking as if I’m not five feet away from you. Second, Dan, I told you it doesn’t matter how it happened. Third, Lucifer, it is not your fault and I will be fine. Stop trying to punish yourself.” At Lucifer’s attempts to interject, she hushed him. “Finally, does it not matter at all what I want right now?”

Both of the men both shut up quickly and then out of nowhere, they both were on their feet and asking what she needed.

She sighed. “Dan, I need you to see about Trixie. I don’t want her seeing me until after the surgery. Between the splint and the bruises, I don’t want to scare her.” Dan tried to protest that she wouldn’t scare Trixie, but one narrowed look and he shut his mouth. “Lucifer, I need you to get over here, damnit.” Dan and Chloe both looked over at Lucifer, waiting for him to acquiesce. But he did not move. Chloe growled his name as a warning, but he simply didn’t budge.

“Anything else, love. Please. I will do anything else you want. I will leave, I will pick up the little urchin, I will pay for you to be transferred to the finest hospital in the country. _Please_. Don’t ask me to risk harming you any more than I already have.”

Dan’s head rolled with the absurdity of what was happening and took the pained silence as his cue to leave and see about Trixie, leaving just Chloe and Lucifer in the room together.

“No.” she responded simply.

“No?” His face scrunches in confusion.

“No. Nothing else. I want one thing. I want you to get your ass over here next to me and hold my hand because I am scared, goddamnit. I am in pain and I’m scared, and I want my partner.”

He nodded hesitantly, looking at her while doing so hoping she would change her mind. But she didn’t. And that’s all it took for him to find himself lifting one lead foot after another until he was standing stiffly at her bedside.

“Good. Now grab that chair and sit down and hold my hand” she instructed.

He slid the chair closer to the bed and sat down on it, but he didn’t make a move after that. She stared at him expectantly and he kept his eyes glued to his hands folded in his lap. Finally, he whimpered and spoke in such a broken voice that her heart twisted. “Detective don’t make me. Please. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She closed her eyes, willing away persistent tears. “Lucifer, put your hand on the bed.”

He laid his hand gently on the side of the bed, palm down. She slowly reached her arm out from underneath the sheets and laid her hand on top of his. “You’re not going to break me.”

“I already did.”

She exhaled softly before asking. “What happened, Lucifer?”

His voice was shaky when he answered, eyes still glued to the floor. “You make me mortal, yes?” She nodded. “Well, it appears that exorbitant pain isn’t the only new feeling that comes with the territory, and I suppose it got a bit…out of hand.”

She couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbles out from her throat. “So, this happened because it just felt that damned good, huh?”

His reciprocating chuckle was much drier and then his body seemed to sink even further into the chair. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. I told you I’ll be fine.”

His cheeks turned slightly rosy and he finally met her gaze. “Well, yes, of course I’m sorry about the…” _injuries_ goes unsaid, “but I meant the precursor to that. I’ve never— I’m not used to— well, I mean— “

He meant the sex, she realized and the rather premature ending of the sex. She shook her head. “Don’t even think about apologizing for that. One, I came, so we’re even. Two, it was kind of ridiculously hot seeing you come undone like that. Well before the searing pain, that is.” He tried to remove his hand from under hers, but she grabbed onto it tighter. “It’s arousing to know that I’m the only one who can tear you apart like that. I’m actually kinda excited for another opportunity to see you fall apart. Maybe next time I can get down on my kn— “

Lucifer pulled his hand out from under hers and stood up quickly from the chair which teetered dangerously back and forth until it settled remaining upright. His eyes were dangerous, but rather than being unsettling, she found it attractive. Holding up his pointer index, he started. “First, there will be no more “opportunities”. And even if there was, which there will not be, you would never, ever be on your knees in front of me. I forbid it.”

She gaped at him. When she recovered, she motioned between the two of them. “So, we’re…what? We’re done? And what do you mean you ‘forbid’ it?”

Lucifer stayed silent.

Chloe groaned internally. This was like dealing with Trixie when she was two and didn’t have the words to explain herself, so she just threw a fit instead. “Lucifer, you have to tell me what you’re thinking.”

He finally deflated and he sat back down on the chair and to her surprise, he put his hand on the bed. He didn’t make a move to hold her hand, but he didn’t remove it when she placed her hand on his either. “I…don’t want that. For us to be “done”, as you say. But I don’t know how we’re supposed to move on from this. I can’t…I can’t sleep with you knowing that I’m going to wreck you. And the sex was the greatest of my entire life. Easily. There is no comparison. I am not a strong-willed man when it comes to temptation. I’ve never pretended to be. Therefore, to be with you would be to live a celibate life and I’m just— I don’t think I’m strong enough for that, darling.”

She lets his admission sit for a second before she responds. “Why are you so sure you’d have to remain celibate? You’re not willing to try again? Ever?”

He looks at her like she has a second head. “Love, you’re laying immobile in a hospital bed right now as we speak. No sex is worth risking this again. Ever.”

“What if I want it though? Are you asking me to be celibate too? What if I wanted another child? Can I never have another child of my own?” she asks as gently as she can to avoid upsetting him more.

“I’d never ask that. If you insist on staying with me, then we can find you a partner who can help satisfy all your needs. If it’s another child you desire, I’m afraid I couldn’t give you that anyways. We’re not the same species. We’re simply incompatible. If we found you a male partner, you could have his child if you so wished.” His answers are spoken simply, but she can tell there’s pain behind his words. He found out he won the lottery, but now he either has to never spend a cent or watch someone spend it all for him.

The steady drip from her IV has caught up to her and she finds herself trying to fight back the exhaustion that comes with pain medication.

Of course, he notices, and he runs his thumb over the back of her hand so gently she isn’t sure she isn’t just imagining it. He encourages her to sleep and the last thing she hears before she succumbs to the weight of fatigue is “I love you.”

As he watches her breath steady, he finds himself drained from a day full of zigzagging emotions and soon enough, he’s unconscious too.


	3. The Hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three updates for three days. I told you it would be fast ;) This is one of the longest chapters out of the what's been written so far (chapters 1-7). I average about 4k words/chapter

They were both startled awake just a couple hours later by a nurse checking Chloe’s vitals. Chloe and Lucifer’s hands stayed intermingled as they slept and neither person made any move to change that. The nurse quietly made sure everything was looking alright before explaining that Chloe couldn’t have breakfast due to her upcoming surgery. Sure enough, a glance out the window confirmed that it was dark in the way that was unique to dawn. That specific nurse left after asking if Lucifer wanted a food order placed (he answered “no” to which Chloe’s head tilted with question, but he didn’t say anything) and not even ten minutes later, a new nurse came in with a new IV bag.

The nurse strung up the new bag and then gave a weary glance at Lucifer before redirecting her gaze to Chloe. “I need to check your bruising. Would you prefer it just be you and I?”

Chloe shook her head vehemently as Lucifer went to stand. “No,” she says pointedly and grasped his hand tighter, “he stays.”

Lucifer got a sinking feeling in his gut and his heart shook. “Detective, I don’t know tha— “

She cut him off. “No. Stay.”

He checked her eyes for any loophole and saw none, so he resigned himself to a head nod.

The nurse took that as her cue to begin and she shut the door. She started asking Chloe questions as she was removing the blankets and wraps. With each layer removed between Lucifer and the injuries, his breathing got increasingly shallower. Then it was just the gown.

The nurse asked Chloe, “would you like me to shut the curtain for some privacy?”

Chloe once again shook her head. “No, it’s okay. He’s seen everything before.” Her laugh was so light and lovely that Lucifer came back to himself just a moment. Chloe continued, “I suppose I should introduce you two. Lucifer, this is Maddie. She was the nurse who was assigned to me when I arrived. Or so I’m told. I was a bit out of it.” The nurse, Maddie, and Chloe both laughed. “Maddie, this is my boyfriend, Lucifer.”

Maddie reached her hand out to shake Lucifer’s and was unable to tell just how clammy it was thanks to the glove on her hand. “What an interesting name!”

Lucifer nodded glumly, seemingly not even picking up on the new name for their relationship. “It is indeed.”

Maddie gently pulled the thin fabric gown up. Like a car wreck, he couldn’t stop himself from looking over. Chloe was bare underneath the gown, which made sense considering she was naked when she was admitted. Though, he couldn’t care less about the trivial fact that she was naked, because all he could focus on was the angry red, blue, and purple blotches covering her body. Her leg had odd lumps underneath the bruising and her hip had four little crescent moon shaped wounds just deep enough to be more than a scratch. There were sharpie lines around the outside of the bruises, which was explained when Maddie said “the bruises haven’t seemed to have grown, which is good. It has only been around 12 hours though, so if they do grow a little, that’s to be expected.” The outlines made him think of chalk outlines at crime scenes and the thought had him swallowing back bile.

Maddie started gently prodding around the perimeter of the bruise at her hip. As she got closer to the middle of it, Chloe started grasping tighter and tighter at Lucifer’s hand. Maddie asked about pain on a scale from 1-10 and Chloe explained that it was a five without any pressure on it but a seven with pressure. These numbers didn’t mean anything to Lucifer other than the common knowledge he pieced together that 1 is probably no pain and 10 is a lot of pain. Then Maddie said she was going to move to Chloe’s thigh and before Maddie even touched her leg, Chloe’s grip on Lucifer’s hand was lethal and he could feel the tendons and bones shift under her grasp. He took a sick delight in the pain.

One glance at Chloe’s face told him all he needed to know. “Must you poke at her like this? She’s clearly in pain. Why do you think it’s acceptable to torture her?” he questioned.

Maddie looked at him in slight shock, as if she weren’t expecting the man that was sitting there so silently and small to stand up for Chloe. “I’m sorry, sir. I know it’s no fun for her, but we need to examine the injuries to make sure there’s nothing going on under the skin that we can’t see. And while she’s going to get some more x-rays and imaging done, the first day is super important to rule out things like internal bleeding. As long as she can go on,” Maddie looked at Chloe to silently ask if she could in fact go on, in which Chloe nodded, “we need to proceed with this.”

Lucifer nodded as well, more to himself than to anyone else. Then Chloe’s grasp returned to its earlier death grip when Maddie got close to her thigh. Lucifer had a momentary flashback to Chloe in his bed screaming in agony and he felt that he was fighting a losing battle with the bile in his mouth.

Maddie started her probing quite a ways away from the marker-lined perimeter of the bruise. She continually asked Chloe is there was any new pain or tingling. As the nurse worked her way closer to the bruise, Chloe’s hand got cold and clammy like his and he decided to turn his palm and interlock their fingers. It was a small movement, but it still got Chloe’s attention. Then Maddie pressed against a particularly painful spot and Chloe’s torso came up off the bed and her hand held Lucifer’s in a vice grip. The detective’s brow was lined with beads of sweat and Maddie quickly removed her hand and gently placed it on Chloe’s shoulder to ease her back down to the bed.

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but that is the worst comminuted fracture I’ve ever seen” the nurse says softly. “I know I just put you through the ringer, but what is your pain level with your femur?”

Chloe’s breaths were ragged so she waited to respond. “Seven without, ten with pressure.”

Maddie nodded and wrote on a paper she had on a clipboard. “Okay, just a couple more things and I’ll leave you two alone for a while.” She moved downwards to the foot of her bed and asked Chloe to wriggle her toes and asked if she could feel it as she slid a pen along the bottom of her foot. Chloe was able to do both of those things which is apparently good. The nurse covers Chloe back up with her gown. Looking back up at Chloe, she asks “Would you like a pair of underwear to wear?”

Chloe swallowed and glanced over at Lucifer to see how he responds. Lucifer’s expression gave nothing away and Chloe nodded while keeping her gaze on him.

Maddie nodded as well. “And your catheter? Is that alright? No pain?”

For the first time since this entire intimate visit, Chloe’s face flushed. Her hand inches away from Lucifer’s a bit so that only their fingertips were touching. Lucifer glances down and sure enough, there’s a catheter that he missed. He took the initiative this time to pull her hand back to his.

“No, no pain. It’s fine. Thank you.”

Wordlessly, Maddie finished covering Chloe up with her gown and sheets and leaves Chloe’s room.

Chloe glances over at Lucifer and takes in his appearance. “You look good.”

He laughs humorously.

“You do” she reassures him as if he’s the one battered.

He doesn’t respond. They spend the next couple of hours in relative silence. She turns the television on, and he sits there and holds her hand. Maddie comes back in eventually with a pair of plain underwear and manages to wiggle them on Chloe without jarring her too much. Later on, a nurse comes in and prepares her for surgery and then they wheel her away and tell him it’ll be about 3 hours until she’s back.

He sits silently for the first hour and a half. Then he paces. Then he’s yelling at his father and kicking the wall and he doesn’t care who hears. He manages to rein himself in before there’s a hole through the baseboard.

It’s been three and a half hours and there’s been no word and so he finds a nurse and he puts on his Devil May Care face and soon enough, she’s telling him that they’re finishing up in the operating theatre right now despite the fact that just five minutes ago she was telling him that she couldn’t tell him anything.

He’s sitting in the room by himself when they wheel her back in. She’s unconscious and she has a dangerous looking cage around her leg, but he can see her chest fall and rise with each breath and that’s good enough for him. The doctor tells him it may be another thirty minutes before she wakes up and she’ll be quite drowsy and out of it and then the door shuts behind him. Lucifer immediately snakes his hand under hers as gently as he can. He finds himself categorizing every small detail he can about her. The small freckles that dance across her nose and cheeks. The small dent in her ears. The way her nose flares out just the smallest amount with each exhale. Then he’s watching her eyelids flutter and she’s making small little moans. Signs of consciousness. He looks at his watch and it’s only been 24 minutes. Always an overachiever.

He watches as her eyes finally open and as she blinks to erase the fog covering them. He desperately wants to brush that hair out of her face, but he resists. That is, until he can tell it’s obviously bugging her as well and he swipes a finger along her forehead, light as a feather.

She grunts and grimaces and the hand attached to his tightens.

“Chloe, what’s wrong, love?” he asks. She doesn’t reply and so he pushes. “Love, what is it? What’s wrong?”

She manages a one-word response. “Hurts.” His stomach sinks again and his throat feels too tight. Like he’s not getting enough air. He did this to her. He unbuttons the top button of his shirt. He’s the reason why she’s here. He stands up to reach over her to press the call button. Less than a minute later, Maddie comes into the room.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, concerned.

Chloe opens her mouth, but Lucifer beats her to it. She simply sits and allows him to speak for her.

“She’s in pain.”

Maddie looks at her IV machine and ups the morphine. The reaction is almost immediate as Chloe falls back into unconsciousness. Maddie goes about changing her catheter bag and cleaning the room up a bit. Then she leaves Lucifer to his own thoughts again.

Seeing as he’s still without his phone and Chloe’s is at his penthouse, he gave Chloe a once over to see if she’d be okay without him for a while. He felt it was unlikely she’d wake up in the next few minutes, so he heads to the nurses’ station to borrow a phone.

He used the landline, despite the willingness from all the nurses to share their phones with him.

He calls Lux first, mostly because it’s one of the few phone numbers he knows that’s relevant. Luckily, Maze picks up with her ever-so-charming “what?”

“Mazikeen.”

“Lucifer! I was wondering what happened to you. Did you kiss and make up with Chloe?” she taunts.

He grunts at her facetious attitude. “I suppose, yes. I need you to run errands for me.”

“No. I’m not your maid” she canters.

“But you are my servant and you will do as I wish. And they’re for the detective anyways.” His voice lifts into his authoritative register that allows no arguments.

“Whatever. Fine. What do you need?”

“I seemed to have misplaced my phone either in the ambulance or somewhere in the hospital. I need you to find it. I would say just purchase me a new one, but I gave that number to too many people who owe me favors. Also, I need the detective’s phone from the penthouse. Call some cleaners over and have the place cleaned. Thoroughly. I want no evidence of what happened left.” That earned him an odd look from one of the nurses, but with a pearly grin, the nurse fell right back into his trance. “Then run to the Detective’s house and grab necessities – clothes, hygienics, the works. Bring it back to the penthouse and put it away. Then bring a complete outfit – something comfortable – to the hospital by Lux. She’s in room W209. But before you do any of that, I need Daniel’s phone number.” He could hear Maze’s eyes rolling and angry huff of breath, but he didn’t care. She’d get over it.

Maze rattled off Dan’s number and they hung up without saying any goodbyes. Lucifer was quick to dial Dan’s number and Dan picked up without it hitting the third ring.

His “hello” sounded frantic.

“Yes, hello Daniel. I simply wanted to pass along that Chloe is out of surgery and is okay. You may bring the child by to see her, but she is in and out of consciousness and she has some sort of cage entrapping her leg that may scare the child.”

There was a long pause before Dan replied. “Dude, why didn’t you just text me that? I mean, thanks and we’ll be there soon but when I see the hospital calling, I thought something bad happened.”

Ah, yes. Caller ID. Lucifer ran his hand through his hand out of frustration. “I don’t have my bloody phone or I would’ve.” And with that, he hung up.

He walked back to Chloe’s room and checked on her before he made use of her en-suite bathroom. After relieving himself, he made note of his appearance in the mirror. His scruff was slightly longer than he kept it but having only been a day, it’s not too bad. His hair was a true disaster. It was all but a small afro with the amount of curl going on. He wet his hands in the sink and tried to tame it, but without a comb and his products, it was fruitless. The grime of the last 24 hours seemed lay heavily on his skin, but he paid it no mind. He would bathe when all this was over.

Walking back to his chair next to Chloe’s bed, he sat down and flopped his arm next to hers. He reached out and laid his hand on hers. He relaxed in the chair and left his head thump quietly against the wall. He fell into the state in-between consciousness and unconsciousness. He heard ever little beep and shuffle of footsteps, but he didn’t really care. Some time goes by and he must have fallen asleep because before he knows it, there is a small amount of weight crawling onto his lap and a hushed voice saying “Monkey, he’s sleeping. Let him be.”

Lucifer blinks open his eyes and sure enough, there’s Chloe’s daughter sitting on his lap looking up at him unabashedly. He looks over at Chloe and finds her still asleep. Then he looks over at Dan and then down at Trixie. He must have fallen into a much deeper sleep than he thought because he couldn’t seem to formulate words and his lips were really dry.

He surveys the room and finds nothing changed except for a small bag sitting on the table. Maze came through it seems.

“You drool, you know.”

Snapped back into reality by Trixie, Lucifer looks back at her.

“I don’t” he responds indignantly.

“Do too!” she giggles and with that, she attempts to use him as a footstool to get up to her mother. While doing so, she places her foot in an unfortunate spot and with such close proximity to the detective, he finds himself groaning in pain. His sudden reaction startles Trixie and she loses her balance and lands on Chloe. More specifically, on Chloe’s fractured pelvis. Dan jumps up and grabs Trixie, but it’s too late. Chloe’s face turns pallor and her eyes shoot open before reaching for a bag that hung conveniently to her side and she proceeds to empty what’s left of her stomach contents. Dan ushers a now crying Trixie out of the room, mumbling something about “climbing on mommy” and Lucifer gently pulls the hair away from her face and tucks it behind her ears. When she’s finished, she closes the bag and Lucifer takes it and throws it for her.

“‘M Sorry,” she slurs.

He grabs a tissue from the stand next to her and wipes off her face. When he’s done, he drops the tissue into the trash and gently places his hand along the side of her face. She leans into it and closes her eyes, letting out a sound that’s remarkably similar to a purr. “You owe me no apologies. Now or ever. Do you understand?”

She makes a noncommittal sound as she continues to press into his hand until it’s trapped between her head and her pillow.

“Darling, can you stay awake for me? Your daughter is here. And the Douche.”

Her eyes cracked open at the implication of Trixie.

“‘ixie’s ere?” She asked and at his nod, her expression became nervous. She glanced down at her leg and saw the cage to prevent her from moving it. Her chest rose a little too fast and the machine monitoring her heart rate picked up a little bit.

Remembering the first time he saw her in a hospital, he was quick to reassure her. “Darling, it’s okay. You look beautiful. Right now, she’s just a little bit scared because she’s afraid she hurt you. I promise she is not scared of you.” His desperate attempts to calm her down seemed to work because the whine from the machine steadied, her breathing back to normal. “Would you like me to get her for you or would you like the doctors first?”

“’rixie -lease” she asked, her words still slightly slurred from the combination of sleep and drugs. He brushed his hand that was trapped under her head through her hair before he took four long strides to the door to open it up and invite her family back in.

Trixie shuffled her feet and peeked around the corner and saw her mother sitting upright in her bed with her arms spread wide. Despite her drowsiness, Chloe’s smile was from ear to ear and Lucifer actually physically stumbled as he was struck with how beautiful she was.

Dan helped Trixie up on Chloe’s right side after Chloe insisted that she would be fine on that side. Trixie has to be careful to avoid kicking the cage on that side, but she wouldn’t bump into the pelvic fracture. Then Dan took a step back to where Lucifer was standing and watched as Chloe and Trixie talked.

Lucifer was struck with an odd emotion watching the two of them. He turned to Dan. “When did you know you wanted a child?” The room got eerily quiet and Dan reeled from the question that came from left field. When he recovered, Dan grabbed ahold of Lucifer’s sleeve and drug him to the hallway and quietly closed the door behind them.

“You have got to learn some timing, dude.”

Lucifer groaned theatrically. “Okay, don’t talk about procreation in front of your offspring. Noted. Now the answer if you please.”

“Honestly, I didn’t really want kids, but we never really did anything to prevent one and so one day, Chloe said she was pregnant, and I guess that’s when I started wanting one.” He shrugged.

Lucifer hums noncommittally and renters the room. Followed immediately by Dan and then the doctor. The doctor took the time to explain the surgery and how intense the break was. He explained that she’s going to remain in the hospital for the next three days and if everything goes well, she’ll be released. But that was far from the end of this. She’ll need to have visiting physical and occupational therapists and then after about a month, she’ll need to start going out for physical and occupational therapy. She’s out of the field for at least six months unless something spectacular happens with therapy. Lucifer can tell she’s not pleased with that, but both Dan and he inform her that it’s not a big deal. He’s informed her that her right leg is entirely non-weight bearing and that she should stay off her left leg as much as possible to allow the pelvic fracture to heal. He does make a small note that she shouldn’t attempt any sort of “adult activities” (there were young ears in the room, and Trixie) for about two months. At which point there will be a follow up appointment to assess progress. Lucifer breathes out a traitorous sigh of relief. As mind numbingly amazing as the sex was before it all went to hell, with the doctor’s orders he didn’t think that he’d have to fight with Chloe about it for at least two months.

The doctor left and let the nurse, Maddie, in. Maddie closed the curtain while she cleaned around the surgical incision, leaving Dan, Trixie, and Lucifer to listen to the soft sighs of pain from behind the curtain. Chloe called Lucifer in and he peeked his head in the curtain. She waved at him to come in further and he walked to the head of the bed. She whispered so Dan and Trixie couldn’t hear. “Do you think you could help Maddie get me dressed?” Her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Of course, love. Perhaps it’s best if we ask Daniel to help as well? The more people, the less…jostling will occur.”

She seemed hesitant and he waited for her to voice her concern. It took a couple minutes, but eventually she did. “I…don’t know if I want him to see the bruises.”

“I understand. There’s no one in the universe who wishes there were no bruises to be seen more than me. I just wish to not cause you any more harm.”

She nodded slowly and Lucifer called for Dan to come in behind the curtain. He walks in and immediately covers his wide eyes when he sees Chloe naked.

“Shit, Chlo. I’m sorry! I didn’t realize— “he rambled.

Chloe flushed more, hating feeling like she’s on display. “Dan, it’s okay. Do you think you could help Maddie and Lucifer get me dressed? I need to have some normal clothes on.”

Dan kept his eyes looking anywhere except Chloe. “Are you sure you want me to? I can try to get another nurse?”

“No,” she said, “I trust you and Lucifer and Maddie. You’ve seen it all already. Please?”

He nodded and cautiously looked over at his ex. He kept his gaze innocent, but he couldn’t help but linger on the huge bruise at her hip and then the even worse one at her thigh. Her thigh was adorned by a large scar with zipper stitching and a metal cage to get her from rolling her leg. Couple with the injuries with her hip, they thought about putting her in a cast, but decided on an external fixator. It’s a scary looking cage and it showed off all the bruising and scars.

Dan’s expression was just short of horrified when he whispered “Christ, Chloe. What happened?”

Lucifer looked down at his feet and clenched his jaw repeatedly, only looking up again when he felt Chloe grasp his hand.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chloe said. “Now can I please get some clothes on, because it’s freezing in here!”

Maddie chuckled and grabbed the bag from the table. As she was reaching inside in the bag to pull out the first garment, Lucifer was hoping that Maze followed his instructions and packed something comfortable and not Maze-esque. When Maddie pulled out a bra, Chloe shook her head.

“No need. Trying to be comfortable, not sensible.” Chloe explained.

Maddie nodded her agreement and pulled out a shirt next. It was a simple looking long sleeve shirt. It was a vintage green and had cuffed wrists and looked well loved. It had a design on the front, but it was so distressed with age that it’s hard to tell what it said.

Chloe grinned. “That’s my favorite shirt. I’m feeling better already.” Lucifer couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised with Maze.

But now came the difficult part. Lucifer sat gingerly at the side of her cot and slowly started lifting her forward. Chloe could help quite a bit with this part. She was mostly using him as a backrest at this point to avoid fatigue. Once they got her to a mostly upright position, Dan took the shirt and opened it up over her head, pulling it down so she was wearing it like a necklace. Then Dan helped Chloe slip her right arm through its sleeve. Then Maddie disconnected her IV temporarily to slip her left arm through and then she rolls the left sleeve up past her elbow to connect the IV again. Luckily, the shirt was so old that the elastic in the cuffs did not tourniquet her arm.

Chloe sighs out a gratuitous sigh and Lucifer swings his leg behind her so that when she leans back, she’s leaning against his chest.

Maddie pulls out a pair of underwear from the bag and Dan looks over at Lucifer for approval. Lucifer’s eyes narrow but he gives him a small nod. Dan takes the underwear from Maddie and feeds Chloe’s right foot through the appropriate hole, following suit with the left. It takes some maneuvering to get it up since Chloe can’t lift her right leg at all and her left leg just slightly, but Dan manages to get it up to the cage surrounding the majority of her knee and thigh. Maddie explains that she’s going to lift the cage just slightly and that Dan needs to be as quick and agile as possible. He shouldn’t rustle the cage, but he also needs to do it quickly to keep it from hurting Chloe. Dan nods like he’s been given a case at the precinct and on the count of three, Lucifer lifts Chloe by the upper thighs and leans back, making her as horizontal as he can. Maddie lifts the cage and Chloe turns her head into her own shoulder to muffle the small grunt of pain and Dan focuses on navigating the cage wrapped around the intimidating scar. Their plan goes off without a hitch. Chloe is in a mild amount of pain, but nothing would have made it gone smoother. Finally, Maddie pulls out a pair of dark gray cotton sweatpants with a white drawstring. They utilize the same plan as the underwear and it’s a little trickier due to the amount of fabric, but they were stretchy enough to make it work without too much hassle.

Despite the seeming ease of which they were able to dress Chloe, she was still shaking with pain at the end of it. When Maddie pulled the curtain back, she turned to Trixie who was listening the whole thing unfold from behind the curtain.

“Hi there, sweetheart. You must be Chloe’s baby!” Maddie grinned.

Trixie nodded hesitantly as she looked over her mother to make sure nothing was wrong. She lingered on the box around her mother’s right leg under her sweatpants but seemed to move on fine.

“Well,” Maddie continued, “we got her all dressed up so she’s comfier. But, we have one more thing we need to do. Do you want to help?”

Trixie’s interest peaked. “What is it?”

Maddie smiled as she moved over to the cupboard on the wall, pulling out a pair of bright yellow socks. “We need to put socks on your mother.” Maddie saw Trixie’s interest deflate at being assigned a menial task, but she continued anyways. “See, the socks are really important because they’re color coded.” She opened the cupboard door open further to show Trixie the contents. “There are red socks that mean the patient has a really bad allergy. Orange socks mean that the patient may try to run away. Purple socks are for a special procedure.”

Trixie tilted her head as she considered the yellow socks. “What do the yellow ones mean?”

Maddie walked over to Trixie and handed her to socks. “Yellow means that the patient shouldn’t try to walk on their own because they might fall. That’s why it’s so important. This way the hospital knows how to help your mama better.”

Trixie was smiling now, excited at her chance to help real doctors. She wasted no time in running over and slipping Chloe’s socks on her feet.

Chloe made a show of sighing appreciatively and saying how warm her feet were now.

Soon after that, Maddie left the odd family to themselves. Lucifer remained in his spot behind her while Trixie and Dan spent another hour spending time with Chloe before Dan announced it was time to go get dinner. Trixie complained that she wasn’t hungry, but Dan explained that visiting hours were almost up anyways and they had to be leaving. They could come back tomorrow. At this point, Trixie threw a royal fit. There were tears and arms were flailing. Nurses looked in the room as they walked past, and Dan was well past annoyed.

“Beatrice Espinoza, that is enough!” he whisper yelled as to not attract any attention.

“Why does Lucifer get to stay? I want to stay with mommy!” she wailed, watery.

Chloe had a pinched look on her face, but she was trying to stay calm. “Monkey, Lucifer is mommy’s boyfriend which means he’s allowed to stay the night with me. It’s just the hospital rules. Plus, wouldn’t you rather be sleeping in that nice big bed of yours rather than some chair?”

Trixie’s crying died down and now she was just sniffling. “B-boyfriend? You’re dating Lucifer?”

Chloe looked back and caught a glimpse of Lucifer’s shocked appearance — whether it was from Trixie’s meltdown or him finally catching her saying the title, she’ll never know — and couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “Yeah, is that okay?”

Dan seemed only mildly perturbed at the admission, seeing as he had already received way too much information about it earlier.

Trixie’s waterworks turned into a million-watt smiled and she ran over and attempted to hug Lucifer, but she could only reach his leg so she hugged that instead. Lucifer resisted the urge to shake it like a wet dog.

Trixie looked up at him with her big brown eyes that matched her own and asked, “What about you, Lucifer?”

Lucifer’s brows wrinkled in confusion. “What of me, child?”

“Well, you’re probably really hungry too. Don’t you need dinner?” she prompted.

Chloe looks almost guilty as her daughter’s words sink in. “Lucifer, when did you eat last?” She struggled to get a good look at him, but now that she thought about it she can remember the lack of his normal meticulous care. “Or shower, come to think of it?”

He shrugged and she lightly jostled him with her elbow. Groaning out of frustration, he replied. “I suppose not for two days or so. I assure you though, I don’t need sustenance and while I may not have had a proper shower, I’ve made use of the sink.”

Chloe whipped her head around so fast they almost knocked their heads together. “Two days?!? Lucifer you need to eat!”

Puzzled, Lucifer replies, “I don’t understand. You haven’t eaten in two days?”

Chloe’s sigh echoes in the quiet room. “Yes, but I had to fast for the surgery, and I’ve been on an IV. I’m getting a smoothie for dinner tonight. You’ve just been starving for no damn reason.”

“Yes,” Lucifer says dejectedly, “fine. I’ll eat from the cafeteria tonight. Will that please you two?” he asks looking down at Trixie.

Trixie nods yes, but Chloe tenses. “Y’know, you could go out and get food. You don’t have to stay here just for me.”

“Do you want me to leave, Detective?”

“Of course not. That’s not what I was saying. But — “

Anything she was about to say gets cut off when Lucifer replies “then leave, I shall not.”

After Trixie and Dan leave, Chloe melts into Lucifer’s chest and she’s into a good slumber before no time. Before Dan left, he handed Lucifer his phone from the bag Maze brought. Lucifer called down to the cafeteria and ordered a smoothie and a sandwich for dinner to be brought up to Chloe’s room. With some monetary incentive, the food was delivered in less time than expected. He had no interest in waking her up, but she should really eat— or well, drink, before the next round of nurses and so he rouses her as gently as possible. He merely sits up a little and asks her to wake up and though it takes a couple tries, he couldn’t chance trying anything more than that less he injures her greater.

When she awakes, her stomach growls a loud sound. She’s on no special diet other than no coffee, alcohol, and low salt. So, when he sees her eyeing his sandwich, he hands it over without a second thought. She downs the smoothie and the rather large sandwich in record time and then is back to unconsciousness. Lucifer was of course feeling hunger, but not enough to make it worth removing himself from the closest thing to actual heaven that he’s even known.


	4. The Sponge Bath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am loving having these chapters already written and just posting them on a schedule. The next three day's stories are done and ready except for some last minute edits before I post them. I did get told I have a mild concussion today so I will do my best to continue writing but the posting schedule may change to once every two days or even once a week after chapter eight is posted. Chapter Seven is the last chapter comprised entirely from what has been previously written in "Strength". Chapter Eight is comprised half what was already written in "Strength" and will have half totally new content. After Chapter Eight, everything will be totally, 100% new! I'm reallllly hoping to get twenty chapters!

The next couple of days pass by without much excitement. They’re awaken every couple of hours by nurses and doctors and therapists. Then visiting hours kick in and Trixie and Dan stop by. Ella stopped by one day as well as Maze and Eve. Amenadiel, Linda, and Charlie tried to stop in, but they leave undetected as Lucifer and Chloe were both snoring softly. The only time Lucifer leaves from behind Chloe is to relieve himself and brush his teeth. And though it’s a bit of a hassle for him to get his lean frame to fit on the bed behind Chloe without knocking into anything, the second he’s settled in, she melts against him and everything is right.

That is, until they check the injuries and Lucifer gets a sharp smack to the face as a reminder of what he had done.

At the end of day three they decided to keep her for one more night on account of the swelling at the surgical site not going down as quickly as they had hoped. They assured her everything was fine and tomorrow she should be going home for sure. Trixie was disappointed, but ultimately everyone understood. Well, everyone except Chloe who was going stir-crazy.

“Lucifer, I know you have to understand. You love personal grooming. I need a shower” she whined. “Just because you seem to be okay with going natural for the last couple of days doesn’t mean I am.”

“I do understand, but I’m telling you, it’s simply not possible. You can’t stand and there is no bath here. If you want to get clean, I’m afraid your only option is a sponge bath or wait” he replied softly.

She groaned and threw her head back against his shoulder. “Then I guess I’m getting a sponge bath like an old lady because I am disgusting. I cannot wait one more day. I can feel the dirt and sweat and its just---” she shivers, “I’m disgusting.”

He shook his head. “You could never be disgusting. And it’s not your fault that you’re unable to bathe. Please, allow me. At least that way you’ll save some of that bothersome pride of yours.”

She was quiet for a while and he was half-expecting that she dozed off, so when she spoke, it startled him. “Are you sure? I know how you feel with the bruises. And I know I’m not exactly…well, I haven’t been able to maintain certain grooming habits I usually have. And I’m seriously disgusting. This isn’t going to be some sexy sponge bath, if they even exist.”

Lucifer wouldn’t lie; he wasn’t eager to see the havoc he wrecked on her, but he needed to do this for her. He rolls his thumb over hers as he leans down to kiss her shoulder. “Yes, please let me. I’d like the opportunity to help you. And I can assure you, there is nothing you can do to be anything less than absolutely breathtaking.”

She nods and he peels himself away from her back which in turn forces her to lay down flatter. He approaches the nurses’ station and informs them of what they’ve decided. The nurses originally fought the idea of a non-licensed person administering a sponge bath to someone, seeing as there’s still the cage and IV line and heart rate stickies plastered on her. But, in true Lucifer fashion, they gave in soon enough and gave him the supplies needed. Just a simple bucket, sponge, some approved soap, and a couple of overly harsh towels.

He returns to her room and finds her tangled up in her shirt and wriggling desperately in an attempt to peel it off herself. He drops the supplies down on the tabletop and rushes over to help her. He helps her get her arms through her shirt and then over her head and he notices her trying to discretely wipe away tears. His panic starts to rise.

“Darling, what’s wrong? What’s hurting? Shall I call the nurse?” He’s already leaning over her to press the call button, but she stops him before he reaches it.

“No, nothing! Nothing’s wrong. I just, it’s nothing. I’m fine” she huffed and she looked over shoulder, hiding her face from him.

“Darling, of course something’s wrong. You’re hurt, you’re probably scared and bored and you miss your family. Everything’s wrong and I will apologize until the end of time for that, but I need to know what’s specifically wrong right now. Do you need pain relief? Or a nurse?”

“No,” she sniffed. “No, my pain is fine. I don’t need a nurse.”

“Would you like me to call Daniel? Or your mother, perhaps?” he prompted.

Another sniffle, another head shake. “No, I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

“Then please, _please_ , tell me what’s wrong. Please let me fix it.”

Her lips trembled and he could hear her breath shake. “I just, I-I was just trying to take off my shirt and-and I couldn’t” she said, trying and failing to fight off the sobs. “I’m sick and ti-tired of feeling like an invalid.” She said the last word with a whine, and it was so unlike the detective he knew.

Even if there was a real knife, the stab to the gut couldn’t have felt worse. He did his best to hide his pained expression. This wasn’t about him. He did this to her. The least he could do was help her. He owed her that much and more.

He ghosted his hand over her hair in an attempt to soothe her and it just made her bawl more. He flinched thinking maybe he hit something, but he didn’t see anything.

“Detective, what did I do?” he asked frantically.

“Y-you won’t even t-touch me!” she cried. She turned her head the other direction now and buried it in his shoulder, her heavy sobs soaking through his shirt in no time. “Not _really_ touch me!”

“I don’t want to hurt you! I’ve already hurt you so, so much. I don’t want to make it worse.”

She had no reply for that, and he just let her cry and cry into his shirt. His shirt that he is four days into. It’s wrinkled and dirty and it’s stiff to the touch, but not in a crisp way. And now there’s tears and snot trailing from his collarbone down to the middle of his chest. He cringes internally but he makes sure she has no idea what he’s thinking.

When her cries quiet and her breathing is less ragged, he lays her back down on the cot. She avoids his eyes and he allows the silence to linger a little before speaking. “Now that you’ve unwound a little, would you like me to continue with your bath?”

She nodded minutely and he stood before turning back around to face her. Dropping his voice into the lowest register he could, he spoke in his most sensual voice. “And please, detective, allow me to undress you from now on.” Though he had no interest in sleeping with her, he watched as her pupils dilated and her nipples hardened, and he grinned. Still got it. He turned and took the previously discarded bucket to the sink and filled it with warm water. When he returned from the en-suite, he had found that she had stayed put and hadn’t attempted anymore wardrobe gymnastics.

He dropped the sponge into the water and squirted some soap in as well, mixing until it’s become quite sudsy. He placed the bucket and the towels on the chair next to her cot so they were within easy reach. He drew the curtain just in case the closed door didn’t hinder any potential company even though it was past visiting hours and they weren’t due for another check-in with the nurses for a while. He picked the sponge out of the bucket and wrung the excess water out before slowly taking it to her skin. He started around her collarbones and took it down each of her arms, being careful to avoid the lines and wires. Then he cleaned over her chest. He looked up at her face and her eyes were closed and she made gentle, subconscious sounds of content. When he looked back down at her, it would be impossible for him to not grow hard looking at her if it weren’t for the giant ugly bruise on her hip. It’s greener around the outside now, but the center burned bright with its purple and red and blue hues. He was unintentionally playing a not fun game of tug-of-war with himself. He dips the sponge to gather soap and cleans around her breasts and watches as the sudsy water falls in the cleft between them. In spite of himself, he finds himself half hard and wanting, and then trails the sponge down her toned torso and finds evidence of his neglect, which drains him like a cold shower.

He sits her up, gently, to rinse her back and he’s grateful for the reprieve of tantalizing sights. Not that she’s any less gorgeous from the back, and the view of the dimples just above where her pant line sits has him swallowing around a lump in his throat. But at least it’s not quite as in his face as her rather more notable assets.

When she’s washed and dried from her neck down to her hips, he’s struck with uncertainty. She notices his lack of movement and cracks an eye open. “Why’d you stop? That felt good.”

“I’m just uncertain how you’d like me to proceed with the site of your injury. I think it may be best if you wash it, seeing as how you know the areas to avoid and such.”

She hummed a negative sound and watches him with her one open brilliant green eye. “Just, be gentle. I’ll let you know if it’s too much.”

His chest feels too small when he lowers her down flat on her cot and he approaches her hip where an angry purple eye flares at him. He dips the sponge in the warm water and wrings it out again. He notes the temperature of the water is cooling and so he plans to refill the bucket after this wash.

He hesitantly places the sponge outside sharpie outline a couple of inches. True to Maddie’s words that first night, the bruise has grown past the black marker boundary a little but has remained relatively the same size. He places the sponge so that it’s just touching her skin and make a tentative stripe with it.

“A little harder, but just a little bit. Then you can lighten up when you get closer to the middle where it’s the worst” she coaches him in the least fun game he’s ever experienced.

He follows her instructions so that when he pressed down, there was a gentle curve in her skin and then just brushing over the skin at the middle. After some of the sweat and grime was gone, the small scabby scars of his fingernail impression were visible again and he choked on his own air.

He finished up quickly and took the now cold water to the sink and emptied it, before filling it with warmer water and soap again. He returned with the bucket and sat it at the table towards the end of her bed. The next part was going to be difficult seeing as it’s only him, but he reached up and fingered the drawstring of her sweats.

Clearing his throat, he asked “May I?” before he continued.

She gawked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Uh, yeah, duh. Of course. Lucifer, it’s fine. Seriously.”

He didn’t respond. He just went ahead and undid the drawstring on her pants and gently lifted her butt to let them slide down to the top of the cage. He lifted the material of the sweatpants that laid on top of her leg down to the bottom of the cage, but the material under her leg remained stuck on the unyielding metal. With the gentlest hand the Devil has ever used, he lifted her leg straight up about a half inch. Just enough to allow the sweats to slide underneath. Then it was a simple procedure of bunching them at her ankles and grabbing the sponge and getting to work. He started at her feet and worked his way up her legs. He worked diligently, but with a featherweight touch. When he made it to her knees, he carried on up the left leg but deserted the right leg for now. Then when he was done with the left leg, he grabbed another sudsy sponge full of warm water and began cleaning the best he could around the cage. Tomorrow before they leave, a nurse will clean around her cage and they’ll clean it more thoroughly then, but he could at least get some of the post surgery gunk off. He had noticed that her breathing got a little heavier, but he had assumed that was from some minor pain that she was trying to not alert him to or maybe she was falling to sleep. He was not expecting the smell of arousal to reach his nose when he reached the apex of her legs. He glanced and sure enough, there was a small wet mark marring the otherwise cleanliness of her panties and all the sudden, that arousal of his from earlier came slamming back into so hard and fast that his head starting swimming. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths through his nose trying to will away his erection, but when he opened them again and saw the metal cage surrounding her bruised flesh, his erection ran away as fast and hard as it came in. He wasn’t sure if it was physically possible to get whiplash in his penis, but it seemed hellbent on trying.

He heard her mutter something under her breath but with his eardrums pounding, he was unable to make out what it was. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that, detective.”

Her face turned the same crimson as his shirt, and she muttered out “sorry.”

He shakes himself out of it. She clearly saw his reaction and was now self-conscious. That won’t do. “As I said before, darling. You owe me no apologies ever. Especially for something as simple as a bodily response. But would you be more comfortable washing this part of you yourself?”

She nodded and he wordlessly handed her the sponge after dipping it in some more hot water. He turned his back to her to give her privacy and he heard her scoot her underwear down enough to get to all the bits. After a couple of seconds, he heard her calling his name. Without turning around, he responded.

“Yes?”

“I’m…um, I’m…bleeding” she muttered.

His brows furrowed but he resisted the urge to turn around. “What do you mean ‘bleeding’? As in, I should fetch you a tampon or I need to grab a nurse?” he asked.

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure where it’s coming from and I can’t bend to see. I think I need a nurse either way because there’s no way I’m gonna be able to well, take care of it, if it’s that and if it’s the catheter, well that’s out of my pay range.”

He nodded and left the curtained area and opened the door to walk to the nurse’s station. He just happened to run into Maddie there. There must’ve been something written on his face because she walked up to him when she saw him approaching.

“What’s wrong? Does Chloe need something?” she asked worriedly.

“I believe so. She has a question that is a little outside of both my gender and occupation.”

Maddie laughs and follows Lucifer back to Chloe’s room. Lucifer stays behind as Maddie enters the curtain, but it really does nothing to dim the conversation.

“What’s the problem, Ms Decker?” Maddie asks.

“Well, I was trying to get a bath and when I cleaned…y’know,” Lucifer stifles a chuckle when he hears the awkwardness that creeps into her voice and imagines her pointing to her crotch, “I saw some blood but I can’t really tell where it’s coming from.”

Maddie make a sound of understanding and then it’s quiet for a minute. There’s a random “does this hurt?” and a quiet “no” from Chloe. Then it’s quiet again. Finally, Lucifer hears Maddie explain “it just looks like some spotting. Should be fine. Do you normally spot before your period?”

“No, no I had my period two weeks ago. I shouldn’t have my next one for another two weeks or so” Chloe counters.

The nurse hums some inquisitive sound and asks, “are you on any type of birth control?”

“The pill, yeah.”

“You take it every day?”

“Well, maybe not every single day but most days” Chloe answered quietly, and Lucifer should’ve had to strain to hear it was it not for his preternatural hearing.

Maddie followed suit and replied in the same hushed tone. “Is there any chance of pregnancy?”

Chloe’s hesitancy has his heart pounding against his rib cage. She can’t be pregnant. At least, not with his child. Her whispered answer is beyond quiet and into mousey soft. “Maybe? But he says he’s infertile and that would’ve happened just a week ago.”

Maddie reply of “is there anyone else maybe? Maybe from before a week ago?” has his fingernails biting painfully into his palm.

But for this question, Chloe’s response was quick. And not nearly as quiet as the rest of the exchange. “No. There’s no one else.”

“If there’s no one else and he’s really infertile, then it’s probably just some spotting due to missing some of your pills. Nothing to worry about.”

Chloe heaved a heavy sigh. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”

Maddie grabbed ahold of the curtain and alerted Chloe that she’d be back with some pads before pulling it open and closing it again behind her. She looked at Lucifer like she was in on some secret and told him with a wink not to worry and that it’s just some woman stuff. He nodded dumbly and asked Chloe if he could enter her sectioned off room.

At her approval, he waltzed in and closed the curtain once again.

“So how much of that did you hear?” she asked.

“All of it. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”

“No, I know. You can’t turn off hearing. It’s okay. You heard her. It’s just some spotting because I’m totally terrible at remembering the pill.”

He read her face before he tentatively spoke. “You do know it can’t be a baby. Like I said, we’re genetically incompatible. It’s physiologically impossible.”

She nodded, and he could tell that she was putting on a face but he could see the disappointment flash through her eyes. “Yeah, no, I know.”

At her pause, he raised an eyebrow. “But?”

She shrugged. “What about Charlie?”

Lucifer sighed as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Charlie was a fluke. Amenadiel fell. Not in the same manner that I fell though. He fell to be human. When I fell, I fell to, well, my past place of residence. Then Amenadiel and Linda slept together while he was human. He just happened to regain his powers afterwords. A set of freak events timed just right.”

“What about me making you mortal?” she asked.

He could tell she was searching for a way in which her hopes could be the truth. He remembered the day that she confessed her desire to have a brother to argue with while he was arguing with Amenadiel. She wants Trixie to have a sibling. She wants to have another baby. Unfortunately, she chose someone that was incapable of giving her that. “You make me mortal, yes, but you don’t make me human. I’m sorry, Chloe. I know how badly you want this, but it just isn’t feasible. Just think back a couple days ago. My mortality issue is what caused this whole situation, but still I had my wings and my strength. It’s not the same.”

She nodded and his heart broke watching hers break into a million pieces. He’s never wanted kids, but he finds himself wanting whatever it is she wants.

With a knock on the door, Maddie comes in and through the curtain with a handful of colorful pads.

“Would you like me to put on one for you?” the nurse asked as she sat the pads on the table with the rest of Chloe’s things.

Deflating, Chloe groaned. “Am I ever going to be capable again? I’m tired of being an invalid.” Regardless, Chloe said “yes, please” which has Lucifer heading to leave the curtain, but he finds himself being stopped with a hand to his wrist. He turns around and sees Maddie holding him back.

“She’s not gonna be able to do this easily and as far as I’m aware, you’re gonna be her primary care giver as of tomorrow evening, am I right?” Maddie questions.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then you need to know how to take care of her. Pads are easy. When her cycle is regular again, she should have enough movement to take care of this herself, but this is happening now, so I’m going to show you how to help her.”

“Of course, yes.”

Lucifer watches as Maddie opens the small package and unfold the pad. Then she peels the pad and places it on the underwear and wraps the wings underneath to hold it in place. He must admit, it’s an ingenious idea. Then with Chloe and Lucifer’s help, Maddie slides the underwear into place and rights her pants over her cage and hips again. Before leaving, Maddie asks “Is there anything else you need?”

Chloe shakes her head and Maddie is gone like she was never there. Lucifer busies himself with cleaning out the sponge bath equipment. When he returns to her cot, she is sound asleep and snoring. Rather than disturb her, he leans back in the stiff back chair and plops his head against the wall.

When he wakes up the following morning, the sun is already shining steadily through the blinds. He blinks the sleep away and turns to find Chloe, but instead he finds her gone. Her bed is still there, so it’s not imaging. Her personal belongings are still there. She is unable to walk, so he’s unsure of where she could’ve gone to. His vision narrows as his heart races and his lungs can’t seem to fill with enough air. Panic attack. In one of the rare moments where Chloe was asleep and he wasn’t, he called Linda and explained his struggles with this recent ailment. Dr. Martin said they’re called panic attacks. He makes a conscious effort to close his eyes and take deep breaths through his mouth. It doesn’t seem to be helping. He feels like he’s drowning, like he’s clawing at sand that’s crumbling under his fingernails. He pushes his feet hard against the ground and his fingers wrap around the wood armrests of the chair. It’s just a panic attack. Just a panic attack. The sound of a door creaking open has his eyes opening and he has to concentrate on what’s he’s seeing because everything is a little fuzzy, but eventually he sees it. Chloe is in a wheelchair being pushed by Maddie. She has shorts on that show-off the external fixator around the length of her right leg and peeking out from under her shirt shows that she has a white softcast around her hips as well. She’s sitting in the wheelchair with her right leg straight out in front of her which looks rather uncomfortable.

She was smiling upon entering the room, but she must have caught a glimpse of his wild face in the light of his panic attack and she was wheeling over to him with a speed he didn’t know she possessed. It took some maneuvering to avoid hitting him with her leg, but she accomplished, and she wasted no time in running her hand through his hair and placing the other one on his heart.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m right here” she whispered this mantra to him before in his previous attacks.

His breathing settled and he noticed the spectator in the room and composed himself. “Yes, thank you. I’m alright. I see you got some new gear. Excellent news!”

Chloe perked up again. She looked down at herself. “Yeah! The cage is still here, but the stitches came out, and the swelling was gone, so I get this fun thing.” The previous fixator was still there, seeing as it was literally attached to her, but they added a sort of sleeve type brace below it that went down to her mid-calf, probably to prevent her from rotating her knee and potentially injure her leg further. “And I’m so glad they didn’t have to do one of those crazy contraption casts — the, the Spica thing — because there is no way I’d be able to just lay around for a month.”

Lucifer felt her contagious happiness and was smiling along side her.

Maddie interrupted their little moment when she spoke out. “Gah, you two are so adorable. But I do have one more thing to show you,” she pointed at Lucifer, “before I can let you check out.”

Lucifer stood up and walked behind Chloe’s wheelchair to steer her to where Maddie was standing next to Chloe’s cot.

“Right,” Maddie started, “so Chloe’s orders are to be bedridden for two weeks only allowed to move for essentials, then slightly mobile with a wheelchair for two weeks, then slightly mobile with a walker for one month, then slightly mobile with crutches for four months.” She paused to take a breath. “Obviously, this plan is scheduled to change as we monitor her progress with home therapy and check ups, but as it stands, that’s two weeks of her unable to stand on her legs. If you’re going to be her primary caretaker, then you need to know how to transfer her. Think bedroom, bathroom, living room. You need to be able to put her in the chair and take her out. The visiting nurses will take care of her softcast around her pelvis, but make sure that the fixator doesn’t get wet for a long period of time and when it does get wet, dry it off thoroughly. Showers are fine, baths are not. If you notice any signs of infection, let us know immediately. We’ll send you home with the pillow you’ve been using for your leg,” a u-shaped pillow roughly the length of her leg that has a section indented for the fixator to rest in, “but if you want more or different support, you can use regular pillows, more of the support pillows, or a thin bean bag type pillow for under your leg as well. You both seem to be intelligent people, so I shouldn’t need to tell you this, but I want to make it clear how important it is that the fixator doesn’t get jostled. Be careful when getting dressed and undressed. Shorts are going to be your friend, but you can wear whatever you can comfortably get in and out of. Final thing, remember that the fixator is metal and can be sharp. It may be a good idea to lay it on a blanket or towel to prevent from scratching furniture and people.”

“I understand. All noted.”

Chloe looked at him thoughtfully. “Do you? Because she said you’re going to have to lift me and you’re going to have to touch me to lift me. You haven’t been the biggest fan of that recently.”

“I understand” he repeated confidently.

“Also,” Chloe said, “I’m not sure how this is gonna work between the two houses. I don’t know if you want to stay a while at my house, maybe the first two weeks? If not, I’m sure Maze will help— “

“I actually have that part already in motion. Maze has moved all of your essentials into my penthouse. Two of the guest rooms have been set up. A seat in the shower. The works.”

“Two guest rooms?” she asked.

“Well, I didn’t want to presume you’d want to sleep with me, especially considering that’s where all this started. And you’re on a long road to recovery. I assumed you were going to want Beatrice to be near.”


	5. The Preening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explicit chapter with wing kink. Guess it could be considered DubCon, but it wasn't intended that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Chapter eight is officially written! Onto chapter nine 😈

Chloe wanted nothing more than to hug the Devil, but she was unable to do anything but make grabby hand motions and hope he’d comply. So that’s what she did. And it took a solid thirty seconds of grabby hands before he bent his tall frame down and gently place his hand on her arm. It was the closest she was gonna get to a hug and so she went for it anyways. The little grunt he made as she squeezed was satisfying.

After their minor show of PDA, Maddie got them back on track and demonstrated some different transfer techniques, but in the end, the one that was both easiest for Lucifer and least painful for Chloe was just a simple lift and turn. Then she demonstrated how to place a pillow or blanket under the fixator without hurting her while Chloe was lying flat and sitting down and then that was that. Lucifer was wheeling Chloe to check-out as she babbled on and on about being excited to go home and maybe now he would finally get a damn shower. As they were checking her out, Dan pulled up in Lucifer’s new Chevy Suburban. Until the fixator and brace on her leg was removed, she would be unable to totally bend her leg and therefore she would need to either sit sideways or in a seat with a ton of leg room in a car. So, naturally, Lucifer bought the biggest car he could find.

Lucifer loaded Chloe in the car in the middle seat while Trixie was bouncing anxiously in the back row. The entire way to Lux, Trixie babbled and babbled to her semi unconscious mother. Dan pulled into the parking level at Lux and him and Trixie unloaded the wheelchair while Lucifer unloaded a now entirely unconscious detective into said wheelchair. They ended up buckling her in because she kept sliding forward, but they eventually worked their way to the elevator and up to the penthouse.

Trixie and Dan weren’t often invited up to the penthouse, so they shared a look of joy when the elevators opened. Lucifer allowed them to explore while he pushed the wheelchair to the guest room he had set up for Chloe. The room was modest, but it was entirely accessible for her. He unbuckled her and gingerly picked her up, laying her down on the bed. He went about placing the pillow under her cage and covering her up with the quilt laying on the bed. Satisfied with his work, he went out to see what the douche and his daughter got up to.

He walked down the small hallway to where he had set up the child’s bedroom and sure enough, he found her in there playing with all the most expensive toys he could find. When she saw him, she flew up from the ground and tackled his legs in a hug. He shooed her off and she returned to playing with her toys. He found Dan on the balcony looking over the city. He walked up to him with two glasses of whiskey neat in an unprecedented show of kindness. Although shocked, Dan accepted the drink and took a sip.

“Damn, the good stuff, huh.”

“Daniel, it’s all ‘the good stuff’ with me. Anyways, I was wondering if you were staying for a while. I’d like to get a shower.” Lucifer grimaces as he looked down at himself. He was…disgusting.

Dan nodded and Lucifer made quick work of a shower, foregoing his usual preening of both human and angel type. His wings were in a disrepair like never before. But, alas, there were two people in the apartment unaware of the Devil among them. He washed off and washed his hair. Then he blew it dry and shaved his now beard back down to his favored scruff. He forewent his product and straightening his hair. His curls would just have to do, wicked as they were.

He walked out of his shower to his bedroom. Naked. As he always does. He heard a small giggle followed by a disgusted groan and looked into the living room to see Trixie peeking out in curiosity from behind Dan’s leg.

“If Trix is gonna be staying here a while, you can’t be walking around naked, dude. C’mon.” Dan groaned.

Lucifer dropped his hands to cover the important bits and nodded before walking into his closet. He put shorts and a t-shirt on before walking back out into the living room. Dan chuckled and when Lucifer asked what was funny, all he had to say was “it’s a new look. Between the shorts and the ‘fro, you look like a typical SoCal beach bum.”

Lucifer shrugged it off figuring fashion advice coming from someone who dressed like a JC Penny for Kids model was unwarranted. He walks into Chloe’s room after a light knock on her door and finds her awake and softly crying. He closes the door behind him as he makes his way to the bed. As he goes to sit on it, he sees what the problem is. It seems there’s a bit of an adjustment period between having a catheter and having to make your way to the toilet yourself.

He brushed a reassuring hand over her forehead and smooths back her hair. Fighting back the mostly unwarranted anger with Dan – wasn’t that what he was there for? Helping her when he couldn’t? - he leans down and kisses her forehead before he walks over to the closet and picks out another pair of sweatpants and underwear and a new shirt as well. He helps her shimmy out of her clothes before he takes a wet washcloth and wipes her clean. She cries silently the entire time he cares for her, but he can only imagine what it’s like to have so much of your independence stripped from you. He puts a new pad on a new pair of underwear and slips them on over her cage, followed by her sweatpants with a little struggle. Finally, he tugs at the hem of her shirt, silently asking if she wants it removed. She lifts her arms as an answer, and he pulls it off of her. He can’t help but notice her nipples are red and chafed after so long without a bra and just an old shirt.

He’s uncharacteristically hesitant when he asks “is there something I can get you for…your…” He gestures at her nipples and she takes it in stride and asks if he has any Vaseline. He returns from his bathroom with a small jar and he lets her apply it before he slides her new shirt on. He transfers her over to the wheelchair and calls the maid that lives a couple flights down to come up and change her sheets.

When he wheels her out to the living room, Trixie makes a very real threat out of jumping onto her mother. Luckily, Dan grabs her in time to stop her.

Lucifer lets Dan transfer Chloe over to the couch and lets Trixie scribble on the hip part of her white softcast with some markers. After all, the softcast gets rewrapped once a week.

Lucifer called out from the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner, love?”

Chloe looked over at him before responding, “I’m really craving some chicken. Some wings maybe?”

At her mention of wings, Lucifer found himself shrugging awkwardly as if there’s a hair on his back he’s trying to rid himself of. Chloe looked at him strangely and mouthed “what’s wrong?” to him.

He just shook his head in a noncommittal way and called up the best restaurant with chicken wings he knew.

Later that night, after the food had been delivered and eaten and Dan decided he would stay the night on the couch, Lucifer helped Chloe get ready for bed. Other than the issue of mobility, Chloe was pretty independent. Her upper body was fine, except for the small bruises from her IV sites. Mostly he just helped her get around from one part of the bathroom to the next. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and washed her hair _thoroughly_ herself.

When he went to transfer her into bed, she held on to his shoulders a little tighter when he went to put her down.

“What’s wrong?” Lucifer looked into her eyes.

“Nothing. _I’m_ okay. Really. You’ve been so great. But what’s wrong with _you_? You haven’t been eating. You’re sleeping is screwed up; some nights you don’t sleep at all and some nights you’re practically comatose. I see you got a shower, and don’t get me wrong, there’s no one who loves your curls more than I do, but you’re not taking the time you usually do with your normal primping. And don’t think I’m ignoring whatever is wrong with your wings. You’re not taking care of yourself, Lucifer.”

He sighed and placed her down on her freshly made bed and he sat next to her. “I’m not the one who got snapped in half by the Devil, detective. I don’t need to take of myself. I need to take care of you.”

Chloe ran her fingers through his thick curls. She really did seem to love them. “And _I_ need you to take care of yourself. Or else all this, the therapy and surgeries. It’ll be for nothing. Because I’m going to be too stressed worrying about you to focus on me.”

Lucifer rotates his body to look at her more fully. No makeup, no special clothes, her hair’s not done up any special way, and yet she’s still the most beautiful woman in the world. Or any world, for that matter. “I am eating. I’m not eating much, but I’m eating. Call me crazy, but I can’t find it in myself to eat food that you could use.” He brushes his knuckles against the bottom of her rib cage that is slightly more noticeable since her bed rest started a week ago. “If I sleep and I fall too fast asleep, I’m afraid I’ll miss it if you need something. Just like a couple hours ago when you needed me and I was in the shower. It won’t happen again. As for my wings, well you are correct in saying something is wrong, but it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

She twirls a curl around her finger. “You have more money than anyone I have ever known. You won’t run out of food. I’m not that ravenous. No one is _that_ ravenous. And I don’t need you at my total beck and call. I’m not totally null and void. Dan is here to help carry my dead weight. Plus, I’ll get better. I promise. Finally, you don’t get to tell me what to or not to worry about. What’s up with your wings?”

There are so many things he wants to say in reply, but he chooses the easiest one. “You’re _not_ a dead weight. It is not your fault that you need some extra help right now. Loathe as I am to admit it, it’s not Daniel’s either. This is solely my fault and therefore my responsibility.” He can tell Chloe is about to argue so he cuts her off. “Do you know what preening is?” he asks.

Her eyebrows furrow for a minute in the sudden change in topic, but she responds. “Um, yeah. It’s what birds do to clean their feathers, right?”

“Birds. Angels. Same thing. It’s just, I should ideally preen my wings once every other day. I usually do it maybe twice a week, usually closer to once a week if we’re being truthful. But it’s been almost ten days since I’ve preened my wings and they’ve become quite bothersome.”

Her quiet little intake of air when she realizes what he’s saying hurts him. He didn’t want to make her feel bad. He hurt her, for Dad’s sake.

Chloe bits her lip as though she’s debating saying something. Lucifer makes the spill it out motion with his hand.

“I told you you need to take care of yourself more. Can I help? Do you think,” she hesitated, “can I preen them for you?”

His breath catches. To preen someone else’s wings is a bond like no other. It’s usually restricted within the bounds of marriage. That’s a commitment she has no idea that she’s asking for.

Chloe takes his inhalation as offsetting and she rushes to apologize, but he cuts her off. “Don’t apologize. Just, well. I feel like you should know what you’re offering to do. It’s not a pretty thing. There’s oil and feathers. But it’s not just the physical thing. To preen someone else’s wings is a bit like, well, there’s no good comparison. It’s like if the commitment of marriage and love and sex were all one thing.”

She nods slowly at him. “Okay. I understand if you don’t want me to, but I’m still willing if you are.”

Lucifer couldn’t believe his eyes. He abused this woman. Never intentionally, but he did. He hurt her. And here she was, crippled by his own hands, and offering to preen him. His voice caught in a lump in his throat, so he simply nodded.

Chloe’s smile was so genuine that it lit up the darkening room. “Awesome. When can we start?”

A small voice that Lucifer wouldn’t ever recognize as his own whimpered out “now?”

She nodded and he found himself taking off his shirt and she wasted no time running her hands down his back, in between his shoulder blades. He carefully unfurled his wings as there’s only enough room to fully extend one at a time. He was aware that they were treading a dangerous line, seeing as neither Dan nor Trixie was aware of him being the Devil, but his need for comfort overtook his uncertainty that someone may see more than they bargained for.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.

His face was warm with her praise and he quickly explained how this worked. There’s an oil gland on each wing. Rub your hand over the gland and then wax it onto the feathers. Then straighten them and remove any that are damaged.

Chloe wasted no time getting to work and the emotions bubbling up from his chest were hard to control. She seemed rather unaffected, so it must be an angel exclusive thing that didn’t care much of her “miracle” status. Her hands felt, well, miraculous on his neglected feathers and he found himself straining against his shorts in no time. Thankfully, his back was to her, so she wasn’t any the wiser.

As she moved down his wings into the longer, bigger feathers, there was no denying he was turned on. He tried all the tricks in the book. Deep breaths, thinking about something _not_ arousing (Amenadiel in a speedo), but still he couldn’t fight off the arousal. Even when he tried to think about her injuries, his mind just warped the thoughts into her soft, milky skin and her long legs. The biological reaction from the preening stronger than any sense of guilt he may feel. When she finally finished with that wing, he choked out “I need a break” and took purposeful strides towards her door and opened and shut it before she could finish her question. He headed down his hallway to his bedroom and walked straight into his en-suite. When the door was locked and his back was pressed up against it, he yanked his shorts down to his mid-thigh and fisted his cock. He was on the verge for so long that he only needed a five or so vigorous pumps until he was coming all over himself. Sinking to the ground against his door, he surveyed the mess he made of himself. His seed left a trail from his navel to the swell of his pecs and it dripped down over his hand and his cock. He cleaned himself off and felt disgusted. He shouldn’t be experiencing pleasure while she’s down the hall in a bloody cast and cage, unable to walk, and what was probably the worst pain of her life because of him.

He never truly felt like more of a monster than when he did when he was tucking himself back into his shorts and walking back to her room.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Was I doing something wrong?”

“N— “his voice came out squeaky and so he cleared his throat, “no. No, that was fantastic. I just…had to take care of something.”

She wouldn’t have been a good detective if she didn’t take his actions and his appearance and put two and two together. She blushed but she looked excited more than shy. He suddenly dropped eye contact and found a really interesting spot on the hardwood.

“I’m sorry,” Lucifer apologized. “I knew what preening— and yet I still let you. I’m truly a monster.”

“‘You’re not a monster for having a bodily reaction.’ Didn’t you tell me that just yesterday?”

“Well, yes, but— “

“No, no ‘buts’. It’s fine. What are you going to need me to do for you to understand I like watching you fall apart?”

“How can you say that” he said. “You’re here crippled because of me and I was off wanking next door.”

She smirked and waved him off, motioning for him to turn back around. He followed the directions and unfurled his opposite wing. She began preening this wing and sure enough, a flag started to raise. He groaned maybe a bit too audibly because out of nowhere she started sucking on the juncture of his neck and shoulders while she pressed down hard on his oil gland and all of the sudden, his hips were bucking wildly and he was coming in his pants. That was definitely new. His legs crumbled beneath him and he fell in an undignified heap. The sound must’ve been pretty loud because next thing he knew, Dan was bursting through the door with a worried face only to see the Devil on the ground with his wings spread and a large wet spot forming on the front of his shorts. It was almost comical to watch the two expressions flicker back and forth on Dan’s face. The realization that Lucifer was exactly who he said he was and the realization that he had just walked in on the Devil coming in his pants like a goddamned youth.

Neither man recovered for several long minutes. Shockingly enough, Dan was first.

“Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait! So, he’s really like, The _Devil_ Devil? For real? And so, does that means he was an Angel? Wait, you’re sleepin— wait. He really did make those bruises. He broke your leg and your pelvis. The Devil is a civilian consultant?” Dan’s endless rant came to a screeching halt when Lucifer made a pitiful noise on the ground. “Wait, is he okay? I mean, what happened?”

Chloe blinked at Dan who was taking it remarkably well. “He— are _you_ okay?”

Dan shrugged with eyes mouth still wide open but seemed to be otherwise unaffected. “I thought I was coming in here to find you on the floor. This is better than finding you hurt. And I guess I kinda always knew. Maybe a little bit, at least. I mean I’ve walked in on the guy wearing a shirt riddled with bullet holes and he no worse for wear. Add in the creepy ‘desire’ thing he does and all the perps who swear to, well, God that he’s _actually_ the devil? I guess I had to consider it.”

And while Chloe’s heart soars a little hearing that, she felt the need to clear some things up right away, so she answers his previous questions. “Yes, he’s _the_ Devil. But remember that makes him an angel too. A fallen angel, but an angel, nonetheless. Yes, I’m dating Lucifer, who is The Devil and I am aware of that, clearly. But as for the sleeping part, I’m not sure if we’ve really done that. And that’s how the injuries happened, yes, but that was a totally unintentional freak event. It’s a long story, but the short version is I make him mortal and wasn’t exactly used to some of the feelings he was feeling, you know, _physically_. I think? I’m not totally sure. But he’s still stupid strong even when he’s mortal and so when he got foggy brain…” she shrugged, letting him fill in the rest. “As for what just happened, I was preening his wings for him” she said, pointing to said wings, “which is essentially the closest he can get to a religious experience I guess. I found out it affects him a little more than I thought. I pressed a button and poor guy couldn’t make it to the bathroom this time.” Chloe chuckled. Dan stared. Lucifer whimpers.

“Okay, okay. TMI. But, like, is he okay?” Dan asks.

Another shrug from Chloe. “You have a little more experience than me with what he’s going through, Dan.”

A couple minutes later, Lucifer blinks and his eyes clear and you could tell he was lucid again. When he saw Daniel standing there, he cursed and quickly rolled his wings back into shoulders. He looked up accusingly at Chloe. “That, _minx_ , was not fair. Everyone knows you don’t play while you preen. Now look what you’ve done. I have a Douche with a melted brain to deal with.”

She giggled and the sound was so pure that he found himself copying it.

And Dan was standing there watching the devil giggle.

Eventually the laughter quieted down, and Lucifer turned to Daniel. “So, planning on smiting me? Killing me with brimstone and fire? Maybe a good old-fashioned bullet to the head.”

Dan shook his head. “No way, man. I mean, I don’t like you but I ain’t gonna kill you.”

Lucifer looked at Dan with contemplation for a moment. “So, you’re not brain melted?”

Dan shrugged. “Don’t think so.”

Huh. Interesting. Standing up and looking down at his shorts, Lucifer grimaced. Looking back up at Chloe he points to his unfinished wing and says, “so are you going to finish or should I ask Dan to help now.”

For a reason unbeknownst to her, she felt a deep loss at the thought of someone else preening his wings now. In an odd bout of possessiveness, she turns to grab at his shoulder to pull him closer, but the movement twinged her hip and she slammed her eyes shut tight and hissed.

Lucifer’s “I’ll finish it myself” haunted her as he ran out of her bedroom, leaving her with Dan.

Pointing his thumb over his shoulder, Dan says “what’s wrong with him?” to which Chloe responds, “he’s afraid he going to hurt me.” The pointed glance he throws at the cage around her leg she elects to ignore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will trade a devil for a comment 😈😈


	6. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More medical content in this chapter discussing the breaks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again for the people in the back, THIS IS NOT A FLUFFY STORY AND IT TALKS ABOUT PAIN AND MAJOR INJURIES. I try to compensate with some fluff and smut, but the plot is literally about Chloe being broken. Now that that is out of the way, I do hope I'm writing it so that it isn't overly graphic. Please follow my [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/) for up to date information about all of my stories. Thanks

The following morning, Lucifer wakes up ready to go. Between the preening and the orgasms, he felt like a new man. That is, until he walked into Chloe’s room and saw Dan in there holding a trash can under her heading and pulling her hair back as she aggressively empties her stomach. Lucifer rushes into the room but doesn’t know what to do. He grabs a water bottle from the mini fridge in the corner of the room and holds it out to her when her gagging subsides. She took a sip and then gargled with it and spit it out in the can. Then she took a sip to swallow and her face became tight as she swallowed, choking back the terrible taste of bile in her mouth.

“What happened?” Lucifer spat at Dan.

“Man, I don’t know. I just woke up too.”

Chloe looked horrible. Her skin was pasty and pale. Her skin was clammy and warm, but she was burying herself under blankets.

“Chloe, darling, listen to me.” He snapped his fingers towards her but she didn’t respond. Desperate, he tried his desire schtick, and still nothing happened. Chloe groaned and closed her eyes. “Okay, detective I’m going to need at least one word or else you’re going to the hospital.”

Chloe clenched her jaw and spoke through her teeth, but the word came out more like a grunt than intelligible English. “That’s right, Chlo. What’s wrong.” Dan prodded.

A high-pitched whine came from the back of Chloe’s voice and Lucifer’s hands were shaking. Chloe’s hands fisted at the top blanket and her knuckles were white with tension. Lucifer reaches over to the nightstand and grabbed a white bottle with pain pills in it. He dumped an oxycodone into his hand and Dan reached out to stop him.

“She’s not due for another couple of hours.”

Lucifer’s ire was no secret in his eyes. “I think she’s due now” he said with a hiss. He took the pill and encouraged the detective to open her mouth and placed the pill on her tongue and pulled her head forward enough to put some water in her mouth. She closed her mouth and swallowed. At first, nothing changed. She was still squirming and letting small, petulant whines out. But after 20 minutes, Chloe fell back into a deep sleep.

Lucifer grew eerily silent as Dan watched him curl into himself. Soon, Lucifer’s voice filled the small bedroom and Dan wasn’t sure if Lucifer even knew Dan was there anymore. “It’s my fault. I hurt her. It’s my fault.”

The room grew quiet again as they both just settled on watching Chloe breathe. Eventually Lucifer spoke again, but this time it was directed at Dan. “The amount of pain she was in when it happened. It was that but ten-fold. Hysterical pain. And that’s the pain she’s hiding under the surface. She wonders why I treat her like glass. I have lived eons and never, not once, has my strength slipped like that. I’ve used every ounce of power I house before, but always on someone deserving and never a human. I’m not evil. She didn’t deserve it.”

Dan doesn’t know what to say to that and so he leaves them alone in the room together and sees about Trixie who stayed blessedly asleep throughout the whole deal. Dan was grateful that he didn’t have to deal with an emotionally scarred child on top of it all.

* * *

The next two weeks pass by without another instance. There were of course some missteps, but they made it through. By the time her two-week appointment was up, Chloe was nearly vibrating with excitement.

“I just want to be able to move again. I mean, I know I still won’t be able to run around and stuff, but at least I can see more than the inside of our house.” His heart skipped a little when she said _our house_ , but he listened to her continue. “I’m not necessarily looking forward to being in a wheelchair and scooting around like I’m ancient, but I miss doing things. Maybe we can go out to eat or I can go with you guys to pick Trix up from school.”

And although Lucifer would never admit it, he was glad the bedridden time was about to be over as well. He would gladly carry her to and from for the rest of her life, but when someone is confined to a space for a time like two weeks, that someone is bound to get a little worked up. And grumpy. He’s hoping that with some freedom, she’ll be a bit more…. accommodating. Which makes him feel terrible just for thinking about it considering how they wound up in this situation.

So, on their drive to the hospital, Lucifer is content listening to all the things Chloe wants to do when she’s off bed rest. It’s a long list, but she seems particularly excited about going to the precinct to get case files to work at from home and getting food from something that’s not a paper bag and eating it somewhere that’s not Lux.

When he pulls into the valet at the hospital and retrieves the wheelchair from the boot, Chloe already has herself unbuckled and spun around so she can help him lift her into the chair. He chuckled as he put her in the seat and dropped down to a knee to be her height. She smiled at him and it broke his heart a little seeing her this excited over something that should’ve never happened, but he relishes with her anyways. He cups the side of her face with his large hand and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. She quietly loves the fact that he’s slowly starting to touch her again. Not just to help her either, but comforting touches that he initiates. Nothing overly heavy.

In fact, over the last two weeks, nothing sexual had happened after the preening fiasco. She regularly helps him preen now as they both enjoy the intimacy, but they’ve never done that _specific_ thing again. Lucifer was no maths genius, but he could count. Right now, they’re on a 1 orgasm Chloe: 3 orgasms Lucifer ratio and that’s just poor partnership. He’ll correct it when he’s able, but sex is still off the table (due to both his personal reservations and the doctors’) and Chloe isn’t supposed to be engaging in any sexual activities until she’s cleared.

As he wheels her into the hospital to the ortho floor, he sits and talks about where she wants to go out to eat tonight. When her name gets called to go back, they were deciding between Mexican and Italian.

The intake nurse read her vitals — all looked good. When the nurse asked about her last menstrual cycle, Chloe explained that she should have her period now but she doesn’t, but she also had some irregular spotting two weeks ago. They talked a bit about the fact that she’s missed some days on her birth control, but still the nurse asked if there was a chance of pregnancy because they’d be taking X-rays of her leg and hip today. Chloe risked a quick glance over at Lucifer and saw his sad grin and Chloe responded, “no, there’s no chance of pregnancy.” The intake nurse nodded and typed it in the computer. Then she wheeled Chloe off to get X-rays done and brought her back to her room to wait for the doctor.

When the doctor came in, he had a big smile on his face. “Ms. Decker! Hello! How have you been?”

She returned his smile and answered truthfully. “Honestly, other than being bored out of my mind and cooped up at home, I feel like I’ve been making a ton of progress.”

He replied with a hearty “good!” and proceeded to log onto the computer and display her x-rays. First were two of her hip. One was dated from three weeks ago and one was dated from today. The doctor, Dr. Roberts, took the time to outline what they were looking at.

“You’ll see here in the one from your admission in the emergency room, along the top of your left iliac crest, there was this fracture. Now, this fracture was stable and was, thankfully, lined up well, so we didn’t need surgery for this one which is atypical for a pelvic fracture. That’s good.” He paused and looked closer at the two images before turning to face Chloe. “Your injuries are quite unusual in the sense that you’ve injured two of the strongest bones in your body without too much other damage. To the extent in which your femur was injured, we would expect your pelvis to be broken in this lower area as well, called the inferior and superior pubic rami. These bones are not nearly as strong and secure as the ilium are. But that’s not the case, is it? You’re lucky, Ms. Decker! Anyways, you see now from the x-ray today, the fracture is closing nicely, and it looks like the timeline for that fracture will only be another month until you’re fully weight bearing on your left leg again. Your physical therapist has assured me that you’re keeping up with your exercises and that you’re extremely motivated to heal, which is always nice to hear.”

Chloe followed along intently but Lucifer can’t help but flinch as he sees the pictures fly by of the damage he’s done.

“So,” Dr. Roberts continued, “because of the abnormality of your injuries, it’s been difficult for us to project an accurate timeline of your recovery. Originally we felt six months was a modest goal, but we’re thinking closer to three months and a month of integration back into your normal life. Because of this, some other timelines have been moved up. Before we get to that, first let’s talk about your femur.” Dr. Roberts slid down the screen until a side by side comparison came up of what looked like a piece of broken chalk. “So, the one on your left here is from your admission into the ER. You don’t need to be a doctor to know that that’s broken. You don’t even need to be an _adult_ to know that’s broken. You had one of the worst comminuted femur fractures, frankly, I’ve ever seen. As far as bone splintering, your femur was nearly crushed. As you know, we had to put in plates, rods, and screws to keep it intact. The bad news first is that you’ll likely suffer lifelong muscle damage to that leg. The good news is you _will_ be able to walk again. That includes running, jumping, swimming, and driving since it is your right leg. Maybe not an Olympic gymnast, but still I think that those are bigger wins than losses. Don’t be fooled, Chloe. Those are amazing things to be able to do after an injury like this, but you will need to work for it. Don’t let your therapy slip. And don’t lose hope. Your femur just barely missed cutting your femoral artery which is why we’re able to be having this discussion right now. But it did manage to cut up some of your deeper muscles which we repaired in your surgery. Now, let me just go over some of these new timelines and then I’ll answer any questions you have.” He waited for Chloe and Lucifer to nod before continuing. “So, our next step was the wheelchair for a couple of weeks, but the physical and occupational therapist agree that they think that would be a waste of time for you. If it’s possible, we want you working out that left leg of yours as soon as possible. We’re going to get you fitted for a walking boot for your right leg and see if you can’t start on a walker today. The walking boot won’t be on for too long, as it’s just there as a cushion to keep pressure off your right leg while you get back to walking and working on the movement in your left leg. Sound good?”

Chloe’s jaw dropped. “Yes! Yes, sounds good! Babe,” she turned to Lucifer, “you won’t have to carry me anymore!”

Dr. Roberts chuckled. “There are of course, limitations. Your therapists will go over them in more specifics, but for example, you should get a walker with a fold down seat so that you aren’t racing to find somewhere to sit and collapse. You shouldn’t be on your feet for more than fifteen minutes at a time or three hours in a day. For that reason, we recommend keeping the wheelchair handy. And use the walker to support you, not just to balance. You’re going to put most of your body weight on your walker, understand? What weight you do put on your legs, try to keep most of it on your left leg. That femur is stable, but I don’t want to take any chances and risk it becoming unstable again.” He waited for their nods before moving on. “This next item is usually something we talk about much later after a surgery like yours, but you, Chloe, were extraordinarily lucky that you had no damage done to any major arteries or veins. Because of that, we’ve been monitoring your blood pressure and it seems to be regulating fine, as we would expect with no serious damage. So, ‘adult activities’ are officially back on the table. I would stay away from anything too acrobatic, at risk of bumping something, but use your head and trust your gut. If something hurts, stop. I also want to point out that many— actually the nearly 75% of people — who suffer from pelvic fractures suffer from a decrease in libido and there can be pain with sex. I don’t want to scare or discourage you, but I want you to be aware so that you know to speak with one of your doctors or therapists if that’s the case. This may sound daunting now, but keep in mind that just because I gave you the OK doesn’t mean that you have to go home and have sex. It simply means you can start testing the waters. What questions do you have for me?”

Chloe looked at Lucifer who seemed to be mentally disconnected. “The fracture on my pelvis, that didn’t cause any other internal problems I should know about, right?”

Dr. Roberts tilts his head in contemplation. “There’s a chance that you’ve suffered from some small strains in the pelvic muscles from the fracture, but that will heal with time and your therapy.”

Chloe shook her head. “I meant more like, what about, reproductively?”

The doctor nods in realization. “No, your reproductive tract should be fine. There’re no injuries that we saw. If you’re concerned, we can schedule a pelvic MRI, but we have no reason to believe there’s anything wrong.”

“No, if you don’t see a reason then I don’t want to spend another second that I don’t have to in a hospital. No offense, Doctor.”

“None taken. Any more questions?”

“Just one. I’m a detective. I know I’m going to be out of commission for a while, but be straight with me doc. What are my chances of getting back in the field when this is all said and done?”

“Well, _Detective_ Decker,” he grinned, “I will be honest with you. This is never going to be all ‘said and done’. Even when you’re done with rehab and you’re back on your own two legs, this is a lifelong condition. There will be days when you don’t feel anything at all and you forget. Maybe most of your days are like that. But there _will_ be days that hurt. I can’t give you an exact number or date because it depends on how the rest of your therapy goes. If it continues as it has been, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to go back to police work. You may not be able to run an eight-minute mile, but with the right amount of effort, you should be back to living a nearly normal life again. We’re all doing our best to help you get there.”

After Chloe ensured him that she had no more questions, Dr. Roberts ushered Lucifer and Chloe down to the casting suite to get fitted for the walking boot.

When Lucifer and Chloe left the hospital that day, Chloe had a new shiny plastic boot on her right foot, and they had a new walker for her. She practiced with it for over a half-hour on and off and it wasn’t easy. Lucifer could see the pain in her eyes when she pushed down too hard on her leg, but she was stubborn and pushed through. But now that the excitement has worn off, Lucifer looks into the rearview to see Chloe’s eyes bloodshot and wet. He sighed but called back to her “Detective would you like some pain medication?”

She nodded but quickly added, “just Tylenol, not the oxy.”

Lucifer was confused at her choice, as it was time for her quarterly dose of oxycodone anyways. “Are you quite sure? It’s time.”

Chloe shakes her head and reiterates that she just wants Tylenol. He reaches into the center console of the Suburban and tosses the Tylenol back to her, followed shortly by a baby bottle of water. He hears her swallow them as he watches the road. He sees her tears fade and he allows himself to think about how the appointment affected him. She could walk (with major assistance but still). She’s closer to being all healthy again. But, she could have sex. There was that lump in his throat again.

She’s been unable to bathe herself the last three weeks due to the various casts and so he gives her a sponge bath and in return, she preens him. It’s been a nice trade off. But the problem was, both of those things left him wanting and now there’s no excuse for him to say no to her anymore. Still, he couldn’t bear the thought of sleeping with her again. What if he makes it worse? He was stuck in limbo between wanting to fuck her until she can only remember his name and never wanting to lay a hand on her ever again. Perhaps he can just play the middle ground? Maybe he’ll help her with her desires and deny himself. He’s not dangerous if he’s not on the precipice peering into the abyss that is his orgasm. That’s it. That’s what he’ll do.

When they park at Lux, Chloe is insistent that she can walk from the car to the elevator. It’s roughly twenty yards and it’s four times as long as the farthest she’s walked so far. He explains he thinks it’s a bad idea but she’s persistent. He helps her get out of the car and she stands behind the walker and together they walk. It’s barely even a snail’s pace, but Lucifer never says a word. Roughly seven yards in and her arms are shaking. At ten yards, her brow is damp with sweat. At twelve yards, she collapses. Luckily, Lucifer was right beside her and caught her as her knees buckled. He was surprised she made it that far. Easing her into a cradled carry, he picked up her walker with his other hand. He raced through the remaining eight yards and called for the elevator. Her breathing was rapid, but he wasn’t worried as he stepped into the elevator. She basically just ran a marathon. As the elevator sped to the top floor, Chloe mumbled something into his chest, but he didn’t ask her to repeat and she didn’t ask for any follow up, so he chalked it off.

When they made it into the penthouse, they were alone. Dan was at work and Trixie at school. So, when Lucifer asked Chloe where she wanted to be put down and she responded “bed”, his hands started to sweat. He wasn’t ready. Not so soon.

He puts her in bed, and she pulls him down next to her, he finds himself scrambling out of her bed and his heart beating wildly against his chest. He couldn’t seem to catch his breath; his lungs seeming two sizes too small. She gave him a funny look and pat against the bed twice. His vision was narrowing again until he heard her voice. “Christ, Lucifer. ‘M not horny, just tired. Cuddle.”

Lucifer finally breathed out the breath that was taking his chest hostage. He laid back down next to her and let her crawl up against him the best she could while he reached down and placed the pillow under her cage and a blanket over it so that it wouldn’t scratch his leg to shreds. With her head buried up against his chest and his arm wrapped around her, that’s where they fell asleep for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is begging for comments pathetic? Oh well. Pleeaassseeeee leave a comment! 💖😈


	7. The Announcement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. No explicit content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No smut in this chapter. I know, I know. I'm sorry. It's coming (pun very much intended) soon!

The next two weeks go by and Chloe hasn’t accosted him once for sex. He hates to admit how relieved he feels. He wants to want her, but he just can’t unsee her in hysterics beneath him.

Her physical and occupational therapists swear that she’s making fantastic strides, but he swears she seems sicker than she was before. She’s wearing out faster, he swears she seems sicker than she was before, and seems to be sleeping more and more. She’s constantly hungry, but she can’t seem to keep any food down. A call to the hospital assures him that this is a part of the process. She was making such big strides that it was sure to plateau eventually. But he just can’t help the gut feeling that says that’s not it. Perhaps she caught the flu or an infection?

He talked to her therapists and nurses, but they feel that with the lack of other symptoms, it’s probably just her body reacting to the pain and all the medication she’s been on.

Another week passes and things are the same. She sleeps and eats and throws it up. Thankfully, still no sex offers. He’s vaguely optimistic that maybe the pelvic fracture really did reduce her libido. It’s a terrible thing to wish for, but he supposed that that’s just self-preservation.

One more week goes by and nothing. She’s actually backsliding with her progress and now the hospital is concerned. She should’ve been at least at crutches now, but she can barely make it the five yards that she started with on the walker. She lives planted in front of the toilet, throwing up all the food she’s desperately hungry for all the time. And at her last bath, he could nearly count her ribs. She’s overly sensitive but when he asked, she simply told him that she’s been trying to get back on track with the birth control and it’s been screwing with her hormones.

One morning, he had enough when he was holding her hair back while she leaned awkwardly over the commode considering she can’t bend one leg.

“Darling, you’re not well. I’m taking you to the ER.”

As per usual, she immediately started fighting him. “I’m fine! I’m fine. I just caught a little bug. It’s fine.”

He groaned. “You’re not. It’s not a ‘bug’. It’s been nearly a month of this now. Please, allow me to take you to get checked out. Plus, if it’s only a ‘bug’ then what’s the problem with getting it seen about?”

She locked eyes with him, and he saw there was no way she was changing her mind. He wasn’t so soft-willed. “Is it the travel that bothers you? Can I call a physician in to check you out?” he offers. He’s beginning to worry that she’s on a downhill slide, and this downhill slide ends with death.

She shakes her head as another round of dry heaves takes over.

Another week passes and he still can’t convince her to see a doctor. Her symptoms worsen. She’s all but residing in the bathroom now, but the hell beast that’s taken residence inside of her is now forcing her odd foods out both ends. When she’s not in the bathroom, she’s on the couch splayed out with a heating pad resting low on her stomach. She cries in her sleep, but when she’s awake she pretends everything is okay. If he were any less of a man, he would have drugged her and taken her to the hospital against her will, but he recognizes that she’s a grown woman and capable of making her own choices. He’ll never force her to do anything.

It’s been eight weeks since she’s been out of the hospital and it’s to the point that Lucifer cries alone in his bedroom. This person is no longer the woman he fell in love with. She’s an empty shell of a person. Every week, her symptoms magnify. The cramping spread from her womb to her abdomen and her back. She is exhausted all the time, but she can’t sleep. He has the doctor’s home number on speed dial, but Dr. Roberts swears it must be a flu because none of her symptoms are to be expected with her injuries. The doctor encourages him to get her to the hospital. He tries and he tries, but she’s persistent. At one point, he decides that he would rather her hate him than have her die and he calls in a visiting physician. Even though Chloe can’t physically run away from the physician, she remains stubborn. She doesn’t answer any questions and she doesn’t consent for the physician to run any tests. She has their hands tied.

The entire situation is beyond awkward. Though Dan and Trixie don’t actually live in his penthouse, they do spend a major amount of time there. No one seems to know their place. Trixie misses her mother and Dan hates to watch her deprecate like this. Lucifer wants to do anything to help her, but everything he offers to do for her somehow has a way of backfiring and coming back on him. When any of them voice their opinion, Chloe is merely just dragging herself away to the nearest corner.

Nine weeks and Chloe cancels her therapy. She claims she’s just not getting anything out of it. Chloe is nearly bedridden. When she isn’t in bed, she needs Lucifer or Dan to lift her in and out of the wheelchair, which she is incapable of going long distances in. Chloe should be on the other side of the slope when it comes to the injury and somehow she’s now worse than when she was in the hospital.

Ten weeks and Lucifer is done playing games with her. He calls the nurse from the hospital when this all started, Maddie. When Maddie picks up the phone, it’s with a surprised voice.

“Mr. Morningstar? How can I help you?”

Lucifer’s voice cracks as he pleads. “Please, you have to help me. I think she’s dying.”

“Woah, woah, woah. What do you mean? This sounds like more of a ‘911’ call.”

“No, no. She refuses to go to a hospital. She canceled her therapy. She stopped taking her pain pills. She’s not walking anymore. She’s sick, Maddie. I need your help.”

“I can’t see a patient that doesn’t want to be seen, Lucifer.”

He groans in frustration. “Then see a friend. I need some way to help her and I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s wrong with her” he begs.

Maddie agrees to come over at the end of the week; she was busy with shifts until then. And it’s been a long week. Lucifer has noticed how Chloe’s health is being impacted from an external point of view. She’s eating nonstop and not exercising, which has caused her clothes to fit a little tighter. (Or a lot tighter, but Lucifer would never dare say that). He’d rather see her full of food than waning like she was a couple weeks ago.

Her overall health is just diminishing. The cramps have spread to her legs and she can’t stand up without getting dizzy. Lucifer has started doing something he swore he never would do – he prayed. He begged for her life, even if it meant sacrificing his own. He asked for answers and forgiveness and whatever his bastard of a father needed to heal his loved one.

When Maddie comes over and sees the state of the penthouse, she’s hit with how real Lucifer feels this is. There’s no sign of cleanliness anywhere. There’s dirty plates and clothes and kids toys all over. Hell, she knows it’s bad when she passed a maid’s floor and still this is the state of the penthouse.

Maddie looks in and sees Chloe laying on the couch with heating pads on her stomach and back. There’re odd arrangements of food scattered around her, and as Maddie is surveying the surroundings, he notices the sharp wince that Chloe gives off as she grasps her left hip. Maddie walks over and peers down at the blonde woman from over the back of the couch. Chloe looks up and meets her eyes. There’s a storm raging in them and then, out of nowhere, her ire leaves her and leaves the misty trails in its stead.

It takes Maddie one look at Chloe to know she’s pregnant. She doesn’t know how she’s so sure, whether it’s being a nurse or being a woman or simply being a friend, but she _knows._

Maddie takes a deep breath, thankful that Lucifer decided to give them the penthouse to themselves. Choosing to stay down in Lux while she’s here. “How long have you known?”

Chloe has the nerve to look guilty, but at least she didn’t play dumb. “I think I’ve known since that day we were talking about it.”

Moving around the end of the couch, Maddie takes a seat on the armrest. “Chloe, why haven’t you told him? He deserves to know. He thinks you’re dying.”

“Every time a baby gets brought up he makes it clear he doesn’t want one. He’s always says about how he can’t have kids but if that’s the truth, then I’m proof that immaculate conception is real.”

“You’ve still got to tell him. What are you waiting for? The baby to pop out and tell him itself?” Maddie chuckles.

Chloe’s lip trembles and Maddie takes the time to feel bad for the detective. She got hit _hard_ with the pregnancy hormone stick. “I just don’t want to lose the baby. I want it.”

Maddie steps over to put a reassuring hand on Chloe’s arm. “Lucifer will not make you give up that baby. First off, he can’t. But mostly, I’ve seen the way he looks at you, sweetie. He’s smitten.”

“You can’t know that. You don’t know the full story. He has a really screwed up family and his relationship with his father is terrible in, well, biblical proportions.” And if Chloe pauses to laugh about her pun to herself, well sue her. “He’s been a bachelor for a _really_ long time. Who’s to say that he won’t just run cause this is too much? I want the baby, but I want him too and right now, this is the only way I can have them both.”

Maddie smiled sadly. “Darlin’, a past doesn’t define a person and it definitely doesn’t define their future. I’ve found that some of the best daddies are the ones who maybe didn’t have the best daddy themselves. The one you got is a _good_ man. You’re right. I don’t know the whole story. But Lucifer loves you. Look around this place.” Maddie gestures to the messes. “Something tells me that this isn’t how he tends to keep his home.” Chloe shook her head. “He’s already putting your needs before himself. If that’s not the best characteristic of a good daddy, I don’t know what is.”

Chloe sighed wetly. “Yeah, I guess. I just wish I _knew_. _Knew_ how he would react.”

“That’s the thing. You gotta have faith.” She winked at Chloe before leaning down and righting a pile of magazines that had toppled over. “Plus, he’s already great with that kid of yours. She seems to really like that make-believe ‘I’m the Devil’ thing.”

Chloe just laughed. Maddie took her leave after she helped Chloe into a sitting position, as per her request. Once Maddie was definitely gone, Chloe managed to get into her wheelchair by herself and wheel over to where her forgotten walker laid against the wall. If she was going to do this – tell him that he was going to be a father – then she was going to prove to him that she wasn’t dying first. Wheeling over to the elevator, she opens the walker and folds the seat down before transferring over from the wheelchair. It takes her a couple of minutes, but she was determined.

When the elevator doors ping open on Lux downstairs, crowded as ever, it’s not hard for Chloe to find Lucifer. After all, people tend to subconsciously migrate towards him. He’s there in the middle of a dense group of people, but anyone who is paying him any mind is just doing so out of curiosity more so than interest, as he is currently on his knees with his hands folded. That precise moment is when she knows she’s taken it too far. Luckily for her, he’s on the upper level of the stairs and not too far from her. She shakily takes a couple of steps before sitting down on her walker. She regains her breath and stands again taking a few more steps. She’s received some odd looks from the club-goers, probably wondering why a grandma with a walker was there, but she kept going. Just as she’s about to sit down again, there’s a gentle hand on her back and she’s surprised to see Maze behind her with a concerned expression.

“Decker are you okay?” she asked before following Chloe’s eyes, glancing over to where Lucifer was on his knees. “Yeah, he’s been doing that a lot.”

Chloe’s legs shook with exertion, but she was determined to make it over to Lucifer. He couldn’t have been more than twenty feet away. Twenty feet. She could do that much.

Maze seemed to sense her determination because she didn’t try to stop her. Instead, she just followed slowly behind with a steady hand at her back. Chloe’s entire focus was just on walking. She ignored her aches and pains and the cramps and nausea that never seemed to go away. Just one step after another. When she was within ten feet of him, her footing fumbled, and she almost fell forward, but she caught herself with her arms and Maze was there to help her steady herself again. Another couple steps and he must have heard the loud clicking of the walker against the heavy bass of the club music. He opened his eyes and dropped his hands. When he saw what was happening, his jaw honestly dropped. He stood up quickly and went to close the distance between them, but Maze held up her hand to stop him from coming closer. He stood still, baffled with his fists clenching at his sides to resist the urge to reach out for her. The last five feet were slow moving and her legs shook more with every step, but at least she didn’t feel like her leg was being shot with every step. When she finally reached him, she looked up at him and said “hello”.

He took that as a sign that he was okay to resume as normal and he bent down and kissed her with a passion that he hadn’t kissed with since the night that resulted in the injuries that gave her the walker. He pulled her head as close to his as he could afford without suffocating her. His instincts told him to grab her at the waist, but the cast there delicately reminded him of why that was a bad idea. When they parted for air, Lucifer realized that it was mostly Maze holding Chloe up at this point and he hurriedly reached down and dropped the seat on the walker, which Chloe took gratefully. While Chloe was catching her breath from her workout, Lucifer was trying to dislodge his heart from throat.

Finally, Chloe spoke up over the loud music of the club and asked, “Can we go upstairs? I want to talk to you.” Lucifer nodded his agreement eagerly.

“Can you carry me? I think I’m a little worn out” she asked shyly.

Without second thought, Lucifer picked her up and he savored the fact that although he lifted her slightly rougher than he usually would, she made no sounds of pain.

He ignored all the glared of the club goers who came just because they were crazy enough to think that he would sleep with them tonight.

Stepping into the elevator, he pressed the penthouse button. Chloe began her speech as soon as the elevator started going up. “I’m not dying” she started.

He glanced over at her before planting his eyes on the running numbers on top of the elevator doors. Her heart broke some more seeing his eyes sparkle with unshed tears.

“I’m not dying,” she repeated. “At least, not any faster than I already was. I’m sorry that you thought that I was. That I let you think that. I was just afraid.”

That really took him by surprised as his eyebrow furrowed. “What do you mean you were afraid? Afraid of what?”

She buried her face in his neck as she mumbled through the rest of her speech. “Afraid of upsetting you, mostly. I was afraid of disappointing you. I- I knew something that I knew you wouldn’t be very happy about. I was happy about it though. But I knew you wouldn’t be and so I wanted to be selfish and keep it to myself. But then I forgot how shabby it made me feel. And then the rehab was moving so fast and Trixie needed a mother and you needed a partner and a lover. I got overwhelmed. I’m sorry.”

At the end of her speech, the doors opened to an empty penthouse. Lucifer realized Maddie must’ve left. Lucifer sat her down on the bar so they were face to face.

He looked her in the eyes and began his response. “I ask that you don’t interrupt me during this. You, Chloe Decker, could never disappoint me. Ever. And it’s a rare thing that you upset me, but that’s usually my fault anyways. If there’s something you want to share with me, I beg of you to please share it. Regardless of how you feel I’ll react to it. Especially if you’re not feeling well. I have been at my absolutely limits with my emotions. I am not an emotional man, and yet you have pushed me to test every single emotion on the range. Darling, I can understand how the rehab would be frustrating, but there is no set time limit. If it was too much, ask them to slow down. Don’t just quit. That’s where problems start springing. Trixie may have needed her mother, but you were right here. She got to see you and sit with you and scribble on your cast. You don’t have to be super mom all the time. Daniel, as much as I hate to admit it, has really stepped up with her. And as for me? I just need _you_. No expectations. Just you. Do you mind if I reveal a secret of my own?”

Chloe pulled him into an embrace, and he felt her nod against his chest.

“See, so many weeks ago, when the doctor gave you the all clear for sex, I was _petrified_ that you were going to want it. When you didn’t want it, I was angry at myself for being relieved. But then you didn’t want it and you didn’t want it and then my fears shifted. I was afraid that you didn’t want me anymore. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for you to not want me. I mean, I’ve maimed you. And then you started getting sicker and you started pulling away and I was positive that I had died, and I was in my own personal Hell loop.”

For a minute, they let the words sit between them. Eventually, Chloe pulled back and looked at his face, reading him. “What do you think about it now?”

“Think about what?”

“The sex. Are you still scared? You know that even if I had wanted it, you didn’t have to say yes. Would you expect me to have sex with you if I didn’t want to?”

“Of course not! I’m not a monster.”

“Exactly. Do you think I am?”

“No, it’s just, I will _always_ give you what you desire. _Always_. You mean more to me than you could ever possibly know. I’m willing to be a little uncomfortable so that you’re happy. That’s what a good _boyfriend_ does, isn’t it?”

She knows he’s trying to shift the conversation by teasing her with the ‘boyfriend’ thing, but she remains steadfast. “No, Lucifer. No it’s not. Just like at the precinct, this has got to be a partnership. You have to have faith that I want what’s best for you too. If you don’t want to have sex and we have sex, that’s rape. Period. It needs to be one hundred percent consensual on both sides, do you understand?”

She could tell on his face that he _didn’t_ understand, but he nodded and she decided not to push it any further. “So, what do you think about it now?”

“I just, don’t know that I’m ready. I think I’d be down to try but start small, though. See if maybe I can even the score. You’re behind by two orgasms. Two mind-numbing orgasms as it were. That’s just good manners.”

Her face reddens, but she gently argues. “Again, you don’t owe me anything.”

“I know, love. I want to. I swear. My word is my bond.”

She nods, but before they could have any fun, she needed to tell him what’s going with her. Sliding a hand alongside his head, she appreciated how he’s grown over the last few weeks. When she started backsliding, he began backsliding as well. He stopped his affectionate casual touches and only touched her when necessary. But now he allowed casual touch again as long as she initiated it. He was still hesitant to reciprocate, but not nearly to the point he was at when she was admitted. She missed the Lucifer from before all of this. As she was playing with the hair at the base of his neck, she hummed. “What do you think about kids?”

“In general? Can’t stand the dirty, sticky little buggers. Why?”

She bit the inside of her lip to stop her from crying. “No, not in general. Specifically. What would you think about our kids?”

He placed a hand on her good hip and thumbed at the spot where her pelvis pokes against her skin. Or, used to. She really had gained some weight the last couple of weeks. “I suppose that’s a hard question for me because as I’ve said, It’s quite impossible.”

She grabbed ahold of his hand. “What if I told you it wasn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m pregnant, Lucifer.”

His mouth gaped as he looked down at her abdomen. As his brain was clicking together dots, it all made sense. All except one thing. “Who’s the father?”

Chloe gasped and in anger she tried to get away from him, but she’s unable to jump down from the counter. Her eyes filled with tears. “I would never, never, accuse you of what you just accused me of.

“Detective, it’s not an accusation. I can’t father your children. And yet, you’re with child. It’s not possible.”

“And I’m here telling you it is. I haven’t seen a doctor yet because I was afraid you’d want me to terminate it. But we can go to the doctor tomorrow. It’ll be twelve weeks along. Twelve weeks.” She repeats herself in hopes that he does the math. And he does.

And then something else hit him. If it was in fact his, it would’ve had to been made during…that night. The night he’s trying so hard to forget. The night that everything went wrong. Of course it’ll be his child. The bloody universe loved to pile up against Lucifer. He wonders if that’s why it was so intense. His line of thinking quickly begins spiraling.

Lucifer was one of the three archangels. There was Michael, Gabriel, and himself. They were the triad of creation. Michael, Lucifer’s twin brother, is the power. Gabriel, the eldest of the triad, is the form. Lucifer is the designer. Gabriel has the power to create matter, but Lucifer has the power to give it shape. Perhaps when you combine the ability to give form and the fact that angels also self-actualize, it is in fact possible for him to father a child. He must have willed it to happen without being aware he was doing it. He tried to think back on the event, but it was a blur of mostly bad memories. But if he was able to change his form simply because he wanted to, what made this any different?

Chloe watched as the gears turned in his head. And then without warning, he seemed to accept what she was saying. “You’ve been pregnant, with my child, for twelve weeks? How long is a human pregnancy?”

Chloe nodded. “40 weeks. It’s divided into trimesters. I’m almost a third of the way done. If it makes you feel any better, the second trimester is much better usually. Different symptoms, but better.”

Lucifer listened with interest. “And what are these better, different symptoms?”

“The biggest one is usually an increase in libido. I’m sure the injury will come into play too. I don’t know if that will be the same as my previous pregnancy, but with Trix there honestly wasn’t much of an increase so don’t get too excited.”

His eyebrows raised near to his hairline. “Oh really,” he purred. “Lucky me.”

She laughed. Of course Lucifer would only hear the first sentence. “You have to remember; I’ll be roughly the size of a whale. Not quite as sexy.”

“Nonsense,” he replies smoothly. “You could weigh 300 pounds and be sexy.”

She licked her lips and looked down at his. Something about him standing there in between her legs, looking as sinful as only the devil himself could look, had her heart suddenly racing. Glancing back up to his eyes, she said, “do you remember how you said you wanted to start small? Wanna start small?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spare kudos? Spare comments anyone?   
> Don't forget to check out my [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/)


	8. The Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of panic attacks. Explicit content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, you horn dogs (ha, puns). The smut has arrived.  
> More serious note: This is the last chapter that has any content from "Strength". From half way through this chapter and on out, it is all new! Unfortunately though, that means wait times are going to increase between chapters. I'm aiming for a new chapter each week. I originally planned on every two days, but with the concussion, I can't spend that much time on the screen in one go. Once again, follow me on [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/) for updates - especially as the wait times go up!

After waiting so long to receive an invitation, Lucifer assumed he’d be eager to be with her, yet he found his breathing sped up. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. On the contrary. He very much _wanted,_ but his instinctive fear of hurting her was trying to damper the want. He didn’t want her to feel rejected though, and so he passed the heavy breathing off as a sign of arousal and wasted no time in laying her down along the bar top and sliding her shirt up past her breasts. When he reached up to grab one, Chloe stopped him with a shake of her head.

“Sore. Sorry.”

It was a reminder of the fact that she was pregnant with her child and that fact helped ease any of the remaining panic. He let this reaffirm him and when his eyes raked down over the expanse of her torso and they were drawn to the small bump on her stomach, he knew that he wasn’t just doing this for her; this was for them. His hands reached out to cup the small home of his child. His child. Wow. He laid a kiss down just below her navel. When he fingered at the waistband of her sweats, he looked up at her for permission. At her small nod, he slowly, carefully removed her pants. He had to remove the walking boot as well to get them all the way off and the cage around her leg and cast around her hips were still bulky which made it a little more difficult, but it didn’t seem to kill the mood. He kissed his way back up her legs, skirting around the casts. Without warning, he cupped her through her underwear, and he could feel her arousal which gave him the final burst of confidence he needed. He paid no mind to the arousal below his belt.

Chloe’s head tipped back along the cool countertop. He stopped what he was doing which earned him a cold look from his girlfriend. He kissed below her injured hip as an apology while maintaining eye contact. “Deepest condolences for disturbing your good time, but you will tell me if it’s too much, correct? I won’t do this if I risk hurting you again. Don’t push yourself for me.”

She nodded her head vehemently and he got back to work. He pulled down the damp cotton panties down her legs which was only slightly easier than removing her pants due to the lack of extra material. When they finally disconnected from their host, he threw them over his shoulder for them to land somewhere to be found later. And then his mouth was one her. He licked a long, flat stripe up her center and he’d never tasted anything as distinct and sweet and addicting as her cunny. He placed a hand flat on her stomach above her cast to hold her down as he used his tongue to explore her pussy. He ate her out like he was a man starving and she couldn’t find any purchase on the unyielding tabletop. He bends down until he’s kneeling before her and her legs are over his shoulders. When he feels the muscles clenching in her thighs by his face, he knows it’s time to switch it up and he goes straight for her clit. Chloe is making sounds like you’d hear in some overdone movie, but he’s loving every second of it. When pulls the hood of her clit back with his fingers and sucks on the clit, she’s gone. She’s bucking against his mouth and the words coming out of her mouth aren’t even English at this point. He’s trying to hold her down as to not rustle any of her injuries or the baby that he knows now is in her stomach. He blows gently against her clit as she’s coming back, trying to work her down. The hand that she had something threaded into his hair was pulling something mighty against his head, as if she couldn’t decide whether she wanted it to end or continue. When he can tell that she’s regained herself, he says “Chloe 2: Lucifer 3”.

Chloe’s eyes are dilated and she’s panting wildly. When she looks down at him, Lucifer makes a show of licking his lips. She groans.

“Are you quite satisfied, darling?” he asked.

“More. Please. More.”

His eyebrows raised in both shock and delight. “Oh ho! Quite the greedy lass, aren’t you?! Tell me, what is it you desire?” he purred jokingly. He half expected a slap or a backwards kick to the shoulder in admonishment, but she must be further gone than he thought because nothing of the sort happened.

“Fuck, Lucifer. Just make me cum again. I don’t care how.”

She’s insatiable now. How could the ‘second trimester’ she mentioned see a raise in an already respectable libido?

“Now now,” he clicked at her. “A good girl knows to be patient. Maybe I should teach you some manners.”

Chloe bent her left leg to try to push his head back in between her thighs but he didn’t budge. She groaned in frustration and while he didn’t have a particularly great frame of reference, she must be really worked up to be fighting like this.

He lifted her from off the bar top carefully and carried her to his bedroom and sat her on his bed. “Is this okay” he asked.

She nodded and sighed as she sank down into the soft silk sheets. He gently rolled her, so she was face down on his bed and he got to look at her particularly amazing backside. “What about this, darling?”

She wiggled her butt as a response. “I don’t want the cage to rip the sheets. Blanket?”

Lucifer grabbed a throw blanket that laid at the foot of the bed and slid it under the fixator. “Better?”

“Mhmm.”

He reaches at her lower back with his hands and begins to massage it without even thinking about what he was doing. Her moan is entirely too loud for what he’s actually doing, and it has his erection straining. Surely she’s overplaying it in order to keep him from thinking about the last time, right? He works his way up her back and splays his large hands across her shoulders, digging in just deep enough to feel the taut muscles abused from her sudden workout with the walker. He takes his time. The heel of his hand rolling circles over the knots until he feels them unwind. Roaming from her shoulders to her neck and down to her upper arms, he leaves no inch of skin untouched. He finds that the slender area that makes up the small of her back warrants some particularly fun noises from the detective. Then he continues to move down to her left thigh and calf and massages them until she’s putty in his hands. Ignoring her rather colorful protests to go where she wants him, he takes his time on the arch of her foot. It feels a little lopsided to her to feel all the sensations she’s feeling on her left leg where her right leg is enveloped by an itchy, annoying cage and brace. Finally, when he reaches in between her legs, he finds her center soaked. He’d love nothing more than to envelope himself in her tight heat, but none of that tonight. Tonight is about her. And when he slides a finger in and he sees her relax further, he lets a smile grace his face knowing that this is worth his self-inflicted celibacy. He slides the finger out, only to add a second one to her core. He can feel her walls stretching around him and the squishing sounds of his fingers thrusting in and out of her heat has his hips bucking against nothing in the same rhythm.

“Any pain?”

She shakes her head against the pillow. “No, I’m fine. Keep going.” Her voice is breathy, and he’s reminded of the old Chloe. The one from before all of this nonsense.

“Can you take another one?” he asks.

Unable to resist the allure of the dimples on her lower back, he brushes his hand not currently inside her against them. They’re not as pronounced as they were before she put some weight on, but they were captivating as ever. He’s pulled out of his reverie when she speaks. “I’m not sure. We can try.”

“Detective, remember you promised not to push yourself.”

“It’s not that. It’s just… different. I wanna try.”

He nods despite the fact that she can’t see him, and he withdraws his two fingers and adds a third.

She’s mewling and the tight ring of muscle around her opening is protesting the intrusion. She’s rolling her hips back onto his fingers the best she can, and he can feel the muscles inside her start to contract rhythmically, which stops him from asking if she’s okay. He points his fingers downwards to start stroking that special spot inside of her and when her hips nearly buck him off of her, he knows he’s found it. He decided that turnabout is fair play and all, so in a similar fashion to how she tore him apart while she was preening him, he pushed all three fingers into her g-spot and pressed his thumb against her clit. And he got the exact reaction he was hoping for. She flops like a fish on the bed in front of him while panting heavily and releasing sporadic little moans. He keeps a hand pressed against her lower back to keep her from rustling her injuries, but as amazing as the orgasm seemed from an outside view, her body knows its current limits. He released her from his prison, and he watched with utmost fascination as she continued to shudder and clench around nothing every couple of seconds. 

When she finally calmed down, he picked her up and rolled her over, pressing a kiss to her collarbone. “Are you okay? Is anything hurting?”

“I’m perfect. Thank you.”

“Of course, darling. It was my pleasure.”

She met his gaze. “Speaking of which…” she trails off as she snakes her hand down to the front of his pants where he had a prominent bulge. He finds himself once again breathing heavily, but not for the reasons she was hoping. He stood stock still and his eyes went wide. Her hand darted away and quickly landed on his chest, above his heart.

“Woah, woah, woah. I’m sorry. I wasn’t insinuating we do anything more than I wanted to return the favor.”

“No. No, I ask that you don’t.”

Chloe looks over his face for a while, searching him. “This can’t be one-sided. That’s not fair for you. Or for me. I want to watch you come undone too.”

“This is what I can give you right now. Starting small, remember? Let me take care of you.”

Chloe huffed. She nodded although she didn’t seem necessarily thrilled with the plan.

He laid back down next to her on his bed and ran a hand alongside the protrusion of her uninjured hip bone. “So, a baby.”

“A baby.”

“Know that I don’t lie, detective. I truly thought that I was unable to bear children.”

“I know that, Lucifer. Do you know how it happened?”

“I have theories, but as far as I’m aware, this has never happened before. I can check with Amenadiel to see if he knows of anything. Being the ‘Messenger of God’ means that he is privy to some insider information that the rest of us aren’t.”

It just hit her again that he’s the _actual_ devil. Of course she knows, but sometimes it just comes rearing back at her. She’s pregnant. With the devil’s child. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not going to be a demon or imp or something, is it?”

Lucifer turned to look up at her face, where he had previously been staring at her abdomen. He had a cheeky smile plastered on. “ _No,_ Chloe. Demons and imps are both totally different species from you and me. I’m the devil, yes, but as you so lovingly said, I’m also an angel. It’s a bit like saying you’re a detective, but you’re also a human. One is a job title, the other a species. Therefore, any child of mine would be born an angel. _I_ was cursed to be the devil. Stigmas aside, I’m not evil and nothing is born evil.”

“Right, duh, obviously.” Chloe’s finger brushed back a loose curl that fell over his forehead and was struck with how beautiful he was. An angel indeed. “I know all that, but I mean more like, so where’s the line drawn? No red skin? Mojo thing? Wings?”

His smile only grew. “No, no, and most likely. Though,” he pauses, seemingly deep in thought. Then his eyes clear again and he looks at her seriously. “Our ‘powers’, if you want to call them that, were granted to us by my father upon our creation. If my theory is correct, then it’s unlikely that the infant would have powers, seeing as I’m, clearly, not my father. If He has his hands in this at all, then I suppose it would be possible that the infant could be granted some sort of power.”

She continued to run her fingers through his hair, feeling the curls bounce beneath her hand. He really needed to get this cut. The hair curled at the base of his neck and it now was long enough that it covered the tips of his ears. “Wings and a fifty/fifty on superpowers. Got it. As much as I’m _totally_ digging the new look, are you going to cut your hair anytime soon? And, seriously, I love the curls. Way more than I have any right to. But I want you to start spending some more time on yourself. When’s the last time you did your hair and put on the stupid eyeliner that you love?”

“Care to make a deal with the devil, darling?” His smirk and little eyebrow raise had her heart fluttering.

“Depends. What’s the terms?”

“I will go full self-care spa day if _you_ meet with the hospital and Dr. Roberts. After your little hiatus with therapy and now factor in the pregnancy, I’m sure that they’ll be wanting to reevaluate you. It’s way past time you were seen.”

Chloe was hesitant to go to the hospital. She knew that she needed to be seen for the pregnancy – to go twelve weeks without any sort of prenatal check-up is beyond stupid for so _so_ many reasons – and even for her injuries, but she wasn’t anxious to go get yelled at, even if she deserved it. Yet, she knew she needed to, so it was an easy deal to make. She sighed before responding. “Yeah, that’s fair. The precinct is really going to hate me. First it was six months of medical leave, and now it’s God only knows how long for medical leave _plus_ maternity leave.”

“No one is thinking about that. Everyone is just hoping you get well soon. Should we schedule an appointment then?”

She nods her agreement and they call to the hospital. The offices are closed, but some bribery here and sweet words there gets an emergency room nurse to find a spot in Dr. Robert’s schedule for the next day. After the call is ended, Chloe finds the toll from her unexpectedly physical day draining and falls asleep on Lucifer’s bed with her head on his chest.

Chloe wakes up first but is shocked to find that the normally ever-present nausea isn’t there. She attempts to roll over to grab her water and receives a stark reminded that she is a) naked, b) not in her typical room and c) not in a good position to be rolling around. Her leg twinged but she was mostly focused on the fact that the normally dull pain in her hip sparked to life and flared painfully. She let out a mostly silent groan as her head dropped back against her pillow. Thankfully, Lucifer didn’t stir. She rubbed a hand over the injured body part, but with it being cast it didn’t really help. Maybe they did a little too much last night, between the whole walker marathon and the sex. Oh well. In her mind, both were totally worth it. She took a few minutes to fully wake up and just lay there and breathe. Sometime in the middle of the night, Lucifer must have woken up and brought her wheelchair into the room, but it was still too far away for her to reach it herself. She was hoping to let him sleep in, but her bladder had other plans. She looks over and sees him next to her laying on his stomach stark naked – must have gotten undressed in the night – and bathing in the morning light that shines in through the window. _His_ morning light. Gently, she runs her palm down along his spine and watches as goosebumps follow her path. His sleep schedule is better now, but he does sleep much lighter. Her gentle touch was enough to rouse him, and he was lifting his head to face her, one sleepy eye cracked open.

“Mmm?”

Chloe smiled and rubs circles into his hip. “I’m sorry, but you left the wheelchair a little too far away from the bed and I really need to pee.”

With another “mmm” of understanding, he stood with a grunt, rolling his shoulders as he stretched. He walked over and lifted her from the bed and carried her straight to the bathroom, sitting her on the commode. He left to then go fetch her chair and leave her to finish. A knock on the door alerted her to his return with her chair. He must have stopped by the closet quick because he was wearing a pair of black silk sleep pants. She transferred herself to the chair and he wheeled her over to the sink to wash her hands and brush her teeth. While she was doing that, Lucifer surprised her by picking up his razor and cleaning up his scruff and taking a comb through his hair. While Chloe had finished long ago, she was content sitting and watching him. “Shower?” she asked.

He seemed hellbent on not using real words for now. He nodded and wheeled her over to the shower, letting her transfer herself onto the shower bench that was already built into the wall. His shower was fantastic with all of its rain heads and heated floor, but the best part was the top of the line smart system that was connected to it. With a push of a button labeled “user #2”, the shower set itself to her preferred temperature (hot, but not scalding like his) and spray (diagonal like a normal shower head, not full rainfall like he prefers). The softcast around her waist got taken off and then, just as she was hoping, Lucifer took his sleep pants off and joined her.

The shower was plenty big enough for both of them, and with another press of a button, the shower-heads on the other side of the shower turned on and though it wasn’t as romantic as it should’ve been for a new couple, the quiet domesticity of it was nice. He cleaned any part she couldn’t reach herself and she returned the favor.

With the water turned off, he toweled her dry, taking special care around the fixator, and then himself. The devil reapplied the softcast which took some time to ensure it was one correctly, but ever since she cancelled the therapists and nurses, he had gotten quite proficient at it. It was just a soft layer of gauze wrapped around her for some cushioning against the bruises and then cohesive tape to hold it all in place.

Lucifer transferred her to her chair to minimize the risk of her falling on the wet floor and she wheeled over to the vanity where her hair tools and makeup resided. To her surprise and delight, he sat next to her after pulling on his robe and pulled out the hairdryer. He plugged it in and then went to work brushing through her hair and blowing it dry. It took some time, but when he was all said and done, he had her hair dried and pulled back into a simple French braid, all without saying a word.

“Is everything okay? You’ve been oddly quiet this morning. Actually, oddly _silent_ this morning. What gives?” Chloe turns in her wheelchair to face him.

When he finally speaks, his voice is still laced with sleep and it’s deeper than usual, causing the corners of her lips to twitch trying to hold back her smile. “Everything’s fine. Just…soaking it all in, I suppose. This is the first day in many weeks that I’m not afraid of you keeling over.”

“I’m sorry, Lucifer. I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine, detective.”

With that, Lucifer began combing out his own hair and applying a heat protectant on it before he began straightening. While he was busy doing that, she was applying her make up. Between the two of them, this is easily the most dressed up they’ve been in months.

Between the rapidly decreasing temperature as they approach December and her rapidly increasing waistline, she chose to wear a pair of sweats that still fit and a hoodie with a light jacket over it. Looking over herself in the mirror, she cringed a little at how homeless she looked, especially next to Lucifer in his four-piece suit, but she couldn’t really be bothered to care.

After an easy breakfast of eggs and toast, they sit and talk while they wait for her appointment to draw nearer.

“—and I truly hate this time of year. You can’t bloody well go anywhere without hearing songs of praise for my supposed half-brother. I refuse to ‘deck the halls’, so to speak, in Lux, but Maze thinks it would bring in more people—”

Chloe’s head snaps up. “Wait, what’s the date?”

Lucifer’s eyebrows furrow. “The twenty-seventh.”

“Of _November?_ ”

Lucifer grins. “Yes. Did you hit your head this morning when I wasn’t looking?”

“Trixie’s birthday is in a _week_. I must have lost track of time these last couple of weeks. What happened to Thanksgiving? Wasn’t that supposed to be like, what, yesterday?”

“Your mother called and between her, Dan, and I, we didn’t feel you were up to it. You were unwell, remember? I, for one, was _quite_ thankful yesterday,” he added with a wink.

She wasn’t all that upset about missing Thanksgiving if she was being honest. Big holiday events have always been more mournful than exciting ever since her father’s passing. Still, it’s been a while since she’s seen Dan and Trixie. Dan decided to keep Trix away when Chloe was steadily declining due to it frightening her.

Her daughter was turning thirteen years old and she was afraid of her mother dying. _Again._ Chloe loved her work, but she couldn’t deny the hurt that burdened her heart every time either her or Dan put Trixie through something like this. Even though this time her injury wasn’t police related, her job put her in enough similar positions for it to bring up bad memories for the young girl.

“After the appointment today, I want to have Dan bring Trixie over and tell them everything.”

“And by everything, do you mean _everything_ everything?”

“I mean, as long as it’s okay with you.”

Lucifer held his arms out wide. “What’s mine is yours. Secrets and all.”

“Then it’s settled. Tonight, we’re going to tell Trixie who you really are. And that’s she’s going to be a big sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The devil may not be interested in my soul, but if you are, I will gladly trade it for some comments/kudos...es? What IS the plural form of "kudos"?


	9. The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. No explicit content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINISHED THIS SO FAST BECAUSE I WAS HIGH ON ALL THE COMMENTS!  
> Seriously though, thank y'all so so much for the love! If you check out my [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/), then you know that this chapter is definitely not my favorite. There is a lot of plot and no fun whump or smut, which makes JJ a sad person :( It took a lot to get me to start writing it, but once I did... well, it's 6k words. I tried to add some fun in there to spice it up amidst all that boring, sad plot 😉 but I want to keep the story real and not force anything.

Sitting in the office waiting for Dr. Roberts had them on the edge of their seats. Literally in Chloe’s case.

“Would you _sit back_ , woman? You’re going to fall off your chair.”

With a huff, Chloe pushed herself back in the chair. “I _won’t_. I just want to know how bad I screwed this whole thing up. Plus, I’m really eager to tell Trixie. I want things to start getting back to normal. I want to walk again and be able to see my daughter without her thinking I have a foot in the grave.”

Chloe just finished talking when a nurse appeared and called out her name. Lucifer rose and pushed Chloe down the winding hallways to her appointed exam room. The nurse went through the typical pre-exam information: full name, date of birth, vitals, etc.

“I see you are here to see Dr. Roberts for a follow-up on a broken femur and fractured pelvis. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Alright then. He’ll be in to see you shortly.”

When the nurse left, Chloe turned to Lucifer. “Hey, do you think you can do your doohickey thing and get us in to see an OB before we leave?”

Lucifer smiled. “’Doohickey’?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, detective. I will do my ‘doohickey thing’ and get you in to see an ‘OB’, whatever that is.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “It’s a doctor. Short for ‘obstetrician’. It’s—”

“Ah, yes. A doctor for fetuses and such. Very well. Just one second, dear.”

And with that, he was leaving the room before Chloe could ask what he was doing. She nervously drummed her fingers along the wheels of her chair. She sat in silence for what seemed like forever. Finally, she heard the door handle click open.

“Lucifer, what the hell—”

She stopped suddenly when she saw that the person walking through the door was in fact Dr. Roberts and _not_ Lucifer. “I’m… _so_ sorry, doctor. My boyfriend just left and I thought it was him coming back, sorry.”

Dr. Roberts smiled but it seemed tight-lipped and forced. “Ms. Decker. Nice to see you again.” He shook her hand and sat down on his stool.

It was a tense moment where they both just looked at each other before they both began talking.

“Doctor, I’m _sorry—”_

“Ms. Decker, do you care to ex—”

Then there was a beat of silence before Dr. Roberts was waving Chloe on.

She took a breath before speaking again. “I’m pregnant.”

Dr. Roberts seemed to sink back in his chair. “I see. And is this why you decided to cancel your therapy and visiting nurses? I’m assuming that this is the ‘certainly terminal illness’ that your…boyfriend?” he waited for her nod of agreement, “was talking about?”

“Yeah, he’s a little…eccentric and to be fair, he really had no idea. Today is the first day in a long time that I haven’t spent the entirety of the day either hunched over a toilet or on my back on the couch. _That’s_ why I cancelled all the visiting staff.”

“Tell me you’ve been keeping up with the therapy on your own though?”

Chloe looked down at her feet guiltily. Now would be a great time for Lucifer to walk in.

The doctor sighed. “Okay, tell me about the last month. Where are you at? Pain, mobility, etc.”

“The pain isn’t all that bad. I cut out the harder pain pills as soon as I was pretty sure I was pregnant. I’ve just been taking a Tylenol and that’s only when I really need it.”

“And what about mobility? The longer that we put off getting that right leg weight-bearing, the more your muscles will atrophy. At this point, we have it in your chart that you should be going from the walker to the crutches. I see you’re in the wheelchair. Do you have a long day planned?”

With every question or statement, Chloe could feel herself slinking further into her chair, away from the doctor.

“Well, actually—”

And it was exactly that moment that her guardian devil decided to grace her with his presence.

“Sorry, darling. It took some extra oomph, but it’s set up so that o—oh hello doctor!”

“Hello, sir. Ms. Decker, is it okay that he joins us?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” Chloe glances up at Lucifer who just unknowingly saved her from an argument she wasn’t looking forward to having.

“As you were saying, Chloe?” Or not.

When Lucifer sat down next to her, she took his hand in hers. “It’s just, I haven’t actually been walking much. Or at all, really. I did walk a little yesterday!” She looks up to meet the face of Dr. Roberts who was, as she expected, looking at her disapprovingly.

“Chloe, that’s not good. A month is a substantial amount of time. _Especially_ for an injury like this. And now you say you’re pregnant as well which adds a lot of new difficulties we need to work around.”

“Yes, sir. I’m aware. But I’m past that. I want to get back to where I was. I want to get _past_ where I was.”

Finally, the smile returned to Dr. Roberts’ face. “Let’s see what we can do about that. I’d normally suggest some x-rays and see where you’re at, but I think we’ll start with a mobility test and see your range of motions first. If anything seems really off there, then we’ll see what kind of imaging needs to be done. From here on out, if you need any imaging done, it’ll have to be MRI or ultrasound unless we _really_ need that x-ray, on account of your pregnancy.” He typed something in the computer before he stood and made his way in front of Chloe. “You ready?”

Chloe gulped but she nodded. She was a badass police detective in LA. She could do some stretching. Right?

* * *

It was…surprisingly not as bad as she thought. It should’ve been bad. It had every right to be terrible. She hadn’t really exercised those muscles in a little under a month, yet she found that the movements seemed to be natural. That’s not to say that it didn’t take effort. She found herself panting and breathless a few times. But even Dr. Roberts seemed pleasantly surprised with what she was capable of doing. The only thing that he didn’t necessarily like is her walking abilities. She could twist and turn in a bunch of ways with only minor pain and she could put her full weight on her left leg and a considerable amount on her right leg, but when it came to walking, she could only take a couple of steps before she was out of breath. Those steps weren’t big steps either, making up maybe six feet (1.8m) of distance. Considering she was walking over double that a month ago, that was discouraging to Chloe, Lucifer, and Dr. Roberts.

“Right, well that’s going to be our biggest focus. Depending on how fast you can get that stamina built up is going to determine how fast you’re on crutches. I _really_ encourage you to start the therapy back up, but I actually don’t see a need for the visiting nurses. You’re doing great with your pain levels, even without the narcotic. I’d almost say it’s a miracle.” Chloe could swear she could actually hear Lucifer’s eyeroll. “I’m sure that your OB and I will be in touch to further discuss your care plan. I’d like to see you back here in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, put time in with your walker and Chloe,” Chloe stops putting her jacket back on over her hoodie. “Congratulations on your pregnancy.”

With that, Dr. Roberts left the room and left Chloe and Lucifer to themselves to leave.

“Did you mojo Dr. Roberts?”

Lucifer drops his head to face her but seeing as he was pushing her out of the room, it was quite difficult to meet her eyes. “No, love. Should I have?”

“No. No, its just weird how easy that appointment went. Well, not _easy._ I’d be okay if I didn’t have to move for the next couple of hours, but you know what I mean.”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

Chloe huffed. “I essentially took a month’s vacation from rehab and then the very first time I try to start up again, I ace it?”

“And how exactly does me ‘mojo-ing’ the doctor – not that I did, mind you – have anything to do with that?” When she shrugged, he continued. “Maybe you’re just that damn good, detective.” With this, at least, she laughed. “Still up to that second appointment? Although it would be a shame to reschedule after all I did all that ‘doohickey-ing’ to make it in the first place.” Chloe’s hand connected with his chest in a commendable hit and Lucifer just laughed.

“Yes, duh. I want to go to this appointment. Hell, scratch that. I _need_ to go to this appointment. Letting it go this long was a dangerous game to play.”

Lucifer nodded and walked backwards into the open elevator, pulling her in alongside him. Hitting the button for the floor where the OB was located, he watched as the doors shut in front of them. It was a quick ride to their floor and once they arrived and checked in, they barely had time to sit down before Chloe’s name was being called.

Chloe raised her eyebrow at Lucifer, but he merely raised his in return, standing to push her following the nurse.

Again, the intake nurse went over the pre-exam necessities and Chloe answered everything for the second time that morning. Then when her chart was filled out, the nurse had Chloe transfer to the exam table and lay back, lifting her shirt just high enough to reveal her stomach. Lucifer watched in quiet curiosity as the nurse tucked a strip of tissue paper under Chloe’s sweatpants and then applied a gel to the detective’s stomach.

“Is that some sort of lubricant?”

Chloe groaned and the nurse just chuckled.

“Seriously, Lucifer? You were doing so good.”

At the mention of his name, the nurse did as everyone else always does and her head snapped up to get a glimpse of the man with the seemingly ‘terrible’ name.

Lucifer was prepared for this, however. “Yes, yes, I know. ‘What an odd name.’ It’s actually entire—”

“No, that’s not what I was going to say at all, actually. I mean, we are in LA. Stranger things have happened—”

“—doubt it –” Lucifer interrupted.

“But I was actually wondering if you were Lucifer Morningstar. The one who runs Lux. The nightclub in West Hollywood?”

Lucifer poked his tongue against his cheek and grinned at Chloe who could tell he was _entirely_ too pleased at being recognized for his business and nothing else. “The one and only, darling.”

The nurse seemed like she was meeting a celebrity at his admission, and Chloe could actually physically _see_ the moment her eyes began to fog over in adoration. And no, Chloe wasn’t jealous. No. Not at all. She just was tired and wanted to go home and see her kid and maybe take a nap. That’s why she let out an audible groan and rolled her eyes. That’s it. Just tired. Totally _not_ jealous.

But her reasoning didn’t matter because when Lucifer noticed, he dropped his hold on the nurse and suggested that they return to the scan.

“To answer your question, Mr. Morningstar, it actually is a lubricant in a way. It’s a gel that is conductive to sound waves. It limits the amount of air between the transducer and the skin and that gives us a much better picture of the baby.”

She places the transducer on Chloe’s stomach and rolls it around in the gel for a second before settling in and watching a screen in front of her. Chloe’s eyes were fixed on the screen as well, but Lucifer was lost.

“Sorry to interrupt whatever this is, but what is _this?_ ” Lucifer asked.

The nurse looked over and smiled at him. “First baby for you two?”

Chloe’s eyes on the other hand never strayed from the screen. “I have a daughter. She’ll be thirteen in a couple of days. He didn’t think he could have kids and has apparently never seen any sort of medical show ever.”

“I’ve watched ‘Bones’!” he replied indignantly.

“Not what I’m talking about.”

The nurse turned back to the screen before she answered Lucifer’s question. “This is an ultrasound. Normally the first ultrasound is done transvaginally due to the size and placement of the embryo, but Chloe marked that she was confident that she was twelve weeks pregnant and because she’s got an athletic build and she’s so far along, we proceeded with a transabdominal ultrasound. This transducer,” she wiggled the probe, “is making soundwaves that go through her skin and—”

“Yes, and that’s all swell, love, but what is it we’re looking at?” Lucifer impatiently interrupts yet again.

The nurse seems to take it in stride though. She remains silent as she continues to manipulate the transducer. After a minute of silence, she lets out a little “a-ha!” She presses a button on the monitor that freezes the image. Pointing a long finger at the screen, she highlights a light blob in a section that’s much darker than the surrounding areas.

Chloe lets out a little gasp.

Chuckling, the nurse turns the screen so it’s easier for them to see it. “Seems like mom has caught on. Any guesses, dad?”

Lucifer just raises his eyebrow. “I’m assuming it’s some poor-quality picture of the fetus that does absolutely nothing for the good looks it’s bound to inherit from such attractive parents.”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re not entirely correct either. See this here?” She hovers the mouse over a rounded area. “That’s your baby. But see here, hiding behind the baby? That’s _another_ baby. You’re having twins. Monochorionic-diamniotic, or MoDi, twins to be exact. Which is just super fancy talk for saying you’re having identical twins.”

Chloe squeaks. “ _How?_ There’s no twins in our families!”

“Speak for yourself, detective.”

“You never said anything about having twin siblings!”

“Right, well when you have twenty siblings, you tend to lose track of who gets that week’s spotlight. Even if I _did_ speak of all of them, I wouldn’t speak of Michael.”

“And Michael is one of the twins?”

“Mhmm.”

“And the other is…?”

Lucifer’s look of confusion was adorable. He gestured at himself.

“ _You?! You_ have a twin brother. You have a _twin brother?!”_

“Yes, good job detective. I think you’ve passed this week’s lesson on emphasis. You truly covered all the bases.”

Finally, the nurse who was sitting there gaping like a fish was able to get a word in. “You have twenty si—never mind. None of my business. Just thought you should know that identical twins, like in Chloe’s case, aren’t genetic. That fact that you’re a twin doesn’t really impact this or any future pregnancies. Twins run on the mother’s side of the family, genetically speaking, so even if you’re a fraternal twin—”

“—identical –” Lucifer cuts in.

“—you have an _identical twin brother?!_ —”

“—as I was _saying,_ it doesn’t really matter.”

As Chloe and Lucifer continued arguing about his apparent lack of communication, the nurse hit a button that made every parent shut up. Soon the sounds of their argument diminished as a loud echoey thumping filled the room. She watched as Chloe’s eyes filled with tears and Lucifer’s head tilted. She quickly explained it was the babies’ heartbeats and then he too seemed to fall in awe.

The rest of the appointment seemed to pass by easily enough. A quick check verified that both babies are fine and well. With a concrete conception date, a due date of June 20th is easy enough to assign. She informs them of potential risks that come with a MoDi pregnancy, lets them know that they’ll be corroborating with other doctors about her injuries, and then they’re on their way to schedule another appointment for a month later.

Chloe remains silent on the journey to the car and still says nothing as Lucifer has the valet bring his car around. It wasn’t until Chloe was settled in the passenger seat of the suburban (with the seat pushed as far back as possible) and Lucifer climbed in the driver’s seat that she finally said anything.

Leaning over to reach him, she punched him _hard_ in his shoulder.

“Bloody _hell_ , detective! You know I bruise like a peach when I’m around you!”

“A _twin brother,_ Lucifer? You never thought to mention that there’s someone out there that looks just like you and, based on how you were talking, you don’t get along. What if one day he decided to just pop on down from Heaven and—and—I don’t know!” And then another punch to his shoulder, harder yet.

“ _Blimey!”_

_“_ And seriously? You couldn’t just get me pregnant with one angel baby. _No_ ,” she drew out the syllable. “You had to get me pregnant with _two_ angel babies.”

Lucifer held up his hands in surrender. “Are you quite done beating on me for right now? Feel free to continue once I’m no longer operating a nearly three-ton vehicle, but the valets don’t look pleased that said vehicle has taken residence in the porte-cochère.”

Chloe huffs and sinks back into her seat, prompting Lucifer to put the car in drive and pull away from the hospital.

“You heard the nurse—”

“—sonographer—”

“Semantics. She said that twins come from the mother’s side. Therefore, not my fault.” Looking sideways at Chloe, he adds, “I thought you wanted a baby, anyways?”

“Well, _yeah_ , I do, but” she trails off, “it’s not exactly like I’m as young as I was when I had Trixie and now everything is going to be a little harder. I’ve still got Trixie to take care of and the injuries and now _two_ babies to worry about on top of all that.”

“Or” he drawled, “this time will be easier because you have experience, Daniel and I to help with your current urchin, a full support team to help with the injuries, and time off work to boot.”

Chloe looked over at him. “So, you’re _really_ okay with this? You’re not going to freak out and run like you usually do?”

Lucifer kept his eyes on the road as he responded. “I think I am. Okay with it, I mean. I can’t promise you I’ll never run from you or the fetuses. However, I can promise you that I’ll do my damndest to find my way back. I know in terms of assurances, that was poor, but I suppose that’s one of the downsides to being with, well, me.”

She merely laid her hand on his arm and he dropped that hand to lace their fingers together after giving a quick peck to the back of her hand. With her right hand she dug out her phone and dialed Dan.

The phone barely had the chance to ring twice before Dan was picking up. “Chlo, what’s wrong?” His voice was frantic and concerned and it had Chloe slapping her imaginary third hand against her head. Dan didn’t know that Chloe was fine.

“Dan, calm down. I’m fine. I have a lot of things to explain to you and Trix, but I want to do that in person. Any chance that you two can meet at the penthouse for dinner?”

There was a silence that hung over the line. “Chloe, I don’t know if that’s a great idea.”

She held back the groan that threatened the tip of her tongue. “I met with the doctor’s today. I swear, I’m _fine_. I don’t look like a zombie, I promise.”

Chloe could hear Dan’s breathing get a little lighter. “You’re fine?”

“I’m fine.”

“We’ll be there at 6:30.”

Chloe and Dan exchanged goodbyes then hung up. Chloe punched the air with her right hand, making Lucifer try and fail to hide a smile.

“I’m taking that as ‘you’re going to need to make urchin-friendly food tonight, Lucifer’” he says in his flawless American accent, but his high-pitched voice bears no resemblance to Chloe’s.

“I do _not_ sound like that. But yes, please and thank you. They’ll be at Lux at 6:30.”

“Perfect. That gives you roughly four hours to take a nap.”

Chloe laughs, misinterpreting his idea as a joke. When she’s met with no response from him, she gapes. “I’m not taking a four-hour nap, Lucifer. I think I’ve slept enough the last couple of weeks. I want to start my life again. I’ll lay down for like, an hour _max_ and then I want to start walking and working on those muscles.”

Lucifer pulls the car into the private parking garage below Lux. “Just promise that you won’t push yourself.”

Lifting their hands that are intertwined, she pulls her hand from his and shapes his hand so that all of his fingers are in a fist except his pinky and then she curls her pinky around his. “Pinky promise.”

“Odd human.” His words comprise a criticism, but his tone suggests a compliment. When he parks the car and leaves over for a kiss, she knows it’s the latter.

The Suburban is great for a lot of things, but the one area that it fails in is the fact that it is so high off the ground that it’s difficult, but not impossible, for her to transfer herself in and out with a wheelchair. Lucifer helps her out and then they’re on their way to the penthouse.

They part ways when the elevator doors open on his floor. Chloe, true to her word, heads to the couch and settles in for a while whereas Lucifer heads to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“Chicken parmesan and roasted brussels sprouts?” he calls out from the kitchen.

“Trade the chicken parm for parmesan crusted chicken and, seriously, _brussels sprouts?_ Adults don’t even like brussels sprouts. What about mac ‘n cheese for the side?” she yelled back.

“I’ll accept the counter-offer of parmesan crusted chicken, but I simply could not live with myself if it were paired with ‘mac ‘n cheese’. My counter: parmesan crusted chicken served with a side salad, but chocolate cake for dessert to appease the spawn.”

“Sounds good. Wake me up in an hour.” She was asleep before he could respond.

Seeing as they had four hours before their guests arrived, Lucifer had at least two and a half hours before he should start the actual dinner, so he decided to start on the desserts. He let himself get swept away in the monotony of baking. It wasn’t until the cake and lemon bars were out of the oven and the cake placed in the fridge to cool did he realize that three hours had passed. He cussed under his breath as he went out to the living room and found Chloe still asleep on the couch, drooling into the Italian leather.

“Wakey wakey, detective. I think that’s enough beauty sleep for today.”

She opened one eye as the other stayed stubbornly closed, her head buried into the crook of her arm. Peering at the dark sky visible through the windows, she asked “what time is it?”

Or at least that’s what he assumed she asked, seeing as her speech consisted of more rhythmic patterns than actual English. “Around five o’clock.”

She bolted upright. “Five?! I said wake me in an hour, not three!”

“I apologize, detective. I lost track of time in the kitchen. No ulterior motives, I swear.”

She glared at him, but carefully swung her legs around to sit upright. Transferring herself to her wheelchair, she excused herself to use the restroom and change her shirt into something a little less “homeless” and then returned to find Lucifer back in the kitchen, working at the stove. He didn’t notice her come in, so she allowed herself a minute to just watch him in his natural habitat.

Chloe could cook. After all, she was married to Dan and Dan is a traditional guy and she is raising a daughter. But Lucifer never settled for less than the best in anything and cooking was no exception. He had a million little jars of spices and herbs and seasonings on his countertop. There were pans of every shape and size surrounding them. How he could manage to turn a simple meal of parmesan crusted chicken into something worthy of this amount of work was beyond her. He was elegant, graceful, and eloquent. He never stumbled or faltered; every turn took him exactly where he needed to be.

“You know, darling, a picture would last much longer. In fact, I have a gallery full of them with me wearing much less clothing that you can choose from.”

Her shock at being caught dissipated quickly. “I didn’t want to interrupt. You seem to have everything under control.”

Lucifer didn’t let her stop him as he finished up. He slid a tray of chicken into the oven and set a timer and then placed the freshly frosted cake on a cake pedestal that she thought only existed on those baking competition shows. Chloe spots a small white pan next to the cake. That’s the pan he usually uses when he makes—

“Lemon bar?” he says as he holds out a slice.

She accepts it happily and finds her eyes watery at the gesture. Damn hormones. If he notices, he doesn’t say anything.

Chloe swallows her dessert quickly in her hunger. There’s still forty-five minutes before Dan and Trixie arrive and she wants to put some time in on her walker.

“Do you think you could spot me while I waddle around like the elderly?”

And that’s exactly what they spent the next thirty minutes doing. It was slow going and frustrating, but by the time Dan and Trixie arrived, Chloe could waddle successfully from the couch to the bedroom stairs and back by herself. The first time she managed to walk it entirely by herself, without any assistance at all from Lucifer, she rewarded herself by pushing Lucifer down onto the couch and sitting across his lap, pulling his lips in for a kiss that had them both moaning into each other’s mouths in no time. Hands started roaming and things started to get heated. Of course, it was that precise moment that the elevator doors pinged open and revealed Chloe’s ex and daughter. Chloe’s first instinct was to spring away from Lucifer like they were teenagers caught making out in the janitor’s closet, but thankfully Lucifer’s instinct was to pull her closer because if she would have jumped away from him, she would have most definitely fallen on her ass in an undignified heap on the floor.

For their parts, Dan and Trixie seemed to pay more attention to the fact that Chloe wasn’t a person-shaped puddle of groaning goo stuck on Lucifer’s couch anymore, and not so much attention on what her and Lucifer were about three minutes from doing on said couch.

Lucifer lifted Chloe off his lap and placed her on the couch as Trixie ran over to see her. Dan made his way over and sat on the chair opposite Chloe.

“So, are you going to explain what’s going on?”

Chloe looked at him incredulously. “Dinner first, Dan. I swear it’s nothing bad. Actually, I hope it’s good news.”

Dan left Chloe and Trixie catch up as Lucifer finished getting dinner ready. The trill of the oven timer brought everyone into the kitchen to eat. Dan and Trixie watched in awe as Chloe slowly but surely made her way into the kitchen by herself using her walker. They all sat around the island and ate the fantastic meal that Lucifer prepared, though it took some coaxing and bribing of dessert for Trixie. As everyone’s plates started to empty, they began to run out of small talk topics and the room started growing quiet. Chloe met Lucifer’s eyes and he nodded, giving her the silent encouragement, she was looking for.

Chloe sat her utensils down on her plate which gathered the attention of the other two in the room. “I want to start by saying I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you and I’m sorry that I did. I went to the doctor’s today, and they told me that I was going to be A-Okay, okay monkey?” Trixie’s eyes started to water, and her bottom lip had just the slightest tremble. “I still have a lot of therapy to do and I have this scary looking contraption on my leg for a couple more months, and I know that the last couple of weeks maybe made you think some scary things, but I was just sick. Just like how you got the flu last year.”

“You’re really okay? You’re not lying?” Trixie asked.

“I’m really okay, baby. I pinky promise.” Chloe and Trixie lock pinkies and then Trixie’s eyes seem to clear.

Dan grinned at seeing the Chloe that’s been gone for so long. “That’s great, Chlo, but something tells me that there’s more.”

Once again, Chloe looked over at Lucifer who again nods in response. “There is some more.” Chloe turns to fully face Trixie. “We’ve been keeping a little secret from you—” Lucifer clears his throat, interrupting Chloe. “—Dad and I have been keeping a secret from you. Not because we didn’t trust you, but because we weren’t sure how you’d handle it.” Chloe met Dan’s gaze and she could tell that he caught on to what was going on and he seemed surprisingly okay with it, which made Chloe’s life easier knowing she wasn’t going to have to settle an argument. “We’ve decided that you’re mature enough to handle it.”

Lucifer took his cue and stood from his seat. He looked over both Dan and Chloe one last time before unfurling his wings. Chloe looked longingly over the beautiful white appendages before quickly fixing her glance to her daughter, who seemed majorly unaffected. “Monkey?”

Trixie was smiling, but that was it. Hearing her nickname had her meeting her mother’s questioning gaze. “Yeah mommy?”

“Lucifer’s an angel.” That was something that Lucifer and Chloe had agreed upon. While they wouldn’t deny that he was the devil, they felt it was unnecessarily rude to potential frighten Trixie by introducing him as that.

“Yeah mommy. And the devil. I know.”

“…You know?”

Trixie shrugged. “Yeah. He always said he was and that he never lied. _And_ I could tell.”

“You could tell?”

“He showed up when you and daddy were fighting. Then he saved you when you got shot. Then he saved me when that crazy dude kidnapped me. Every time one of us needed his help, he was there. He’s our guardian angel.”

“I am no s—” Lucifer started in a huff but was cut off with a raised finger from Chloe.

“And you’re okay with him being my boyfriend. That I’m dating the devil?”

Trixie’s grin widened. “Yeah! That’s awesome! No one is going to post mean stuff about me ever again once they find out that Lucifer is my mom’s boyfriend.”

If it weren’t for the fact that Trixie came out of her, Chloe wouldn’t be totally sure that Dan didn’t just clone and gender swap a little version of himself.

“That’s the thing though, Trix. We can’t tell anyone. It’s got to be our secret as a family.”

Another shrug from the pre-teen and an easy “okay”. Chloe knew that was the best she was going to get from the girl and decided not to press it right now. Chloe finally looked back over at Dan, who was just staring at her boyfriend’s wings as Lucifer was cutting the chocolate cake and handing a piece that was much too large to Trixie. He was staring in a way that was not so much hypnotized as much as pensive. Lucifer followed her eyeline and sighed when he realized.

“ _Now_ you decide to go all mushy brained on me.”

“Wha-? No. They’re just… _pretty_ , dude. It’s weird. Anyways, is that everything?”

“Actually, no. If it’s all the same with the detective, I’d like to share our final piece of news.” Chloe seems surprised that he’d take the lead on this, but she motions him on. He furled his wings back up and sat down. Chloe would be lying if she didn’t feel a loss at the desertion of his wings.

Lucifer had thought hard all afternoon about how he was going to present this to Chloe’s daughter. While he didn’t necessarily care how she felt, he knew that Chloe did, and he cared how Chloe felt. In one way, Trixie and Lucifer were quite similar and that was how they preferred to not be danced around. They preferred the truth.

“Daniel. Beatrice. The detective is pregnant.”

Dan looked back and forth between Lucifer and Chloe for a couple seconds before deciding that this was good news and congratulating them.

Trixie’s response was immediate. “That’s awesome! I always wanted a little sister.”

Chloe could see how this could be a train wreck in no time and was determined to quickly nip it in the bud. “Monkey, we’re glad you’re happy, but it may not be a girl, remember.”

Trixie’s face scrunched a little in thought. “Well, I don’t want a little brother. Boys are gross.”

As pleased as Chloe was to hear that her daughter was still not interested in the opposite sex, the raging hormones that ran rampant through her blood seemed to think now was a good time for some waterworks. The thoughts raced through her mind. Though Chloe didn’t care if she was having boys or girls, what if she had two boys and Trixie hated her? What if she decides she wants Dan to have primary custody? The what-ifs kept coming and coming, and she didn’t notice she was crying until she felt Lucifer’s hand on her arm and she was brought out of her own head. That’s when she noticed that Trixie was also crying now, and Dan had her tucked into his side.

“Mommy isn’t mad at you. Look? She’s not mad.”

Trixie looked over at Chloe and Chloe’s heart broke some more. “Baby, come here.”

Trixie walked over to Chloe and buried her head in Chloe’s shoulder. “I swear I’m not mad at you. When women are pregnant, sometimes their emotions get a little out of whack.”

Lucifer opted to stay quiet and stay out of the family moment.

Dan had no such reservations. “Monkey, you know that your mom can’t control if she’s having a boy or a girl. It’s not fair to say that you wouldn’t want the baby if he was a boy. And not _all_ boys are gross, right?”

“You and Lucifer don’t count. You’re the only two cool boys there are.”

“Well, see? No matter if the baby is a boy or a girl, it will be half Lucifer and half your mom and they’re both cool, right?” Chloe could see how much that pained Dan to say, but she was thankful that he was trying.

Chloe cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Lucifer actually left one kinda really big thing out.” How does he keep forgetting that people care if someone is a twin? “I’m not just having one baby. I’m having two.”

Trixie’s smile returned. “One of each! That way everyone is happy.”

Lucifer’s not exactly sure when Trixie got it in her head that they _wanted_ a boy. He couldn’t speak for the detective, but he didn’t really care one way or the other about what gender they were. “Actually Beatrice, but the twins are identical, like my brother and me. That means they’re either both male or both female.”

“Dude, Amenadiel and you are _not_ identical twins.”

Lucifer looked at Chloe, at Dan, and then back to Chloe as if to ask ‘really? You married and procreated with _him?’_. “Clearly. I meant my brother Michael.”

Chloe just shook her head and went back to her daughter. “Sorry, Trix. It’s either one or the other in this case.”

“How long until you know if they’re boys or girls?”

“One or two months” Chloe answered.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

Trixie blinked. “Yup.”

And just like that, the problem seemed to just evaporate. Kids can be so confusing.

“Alright kid. Any more questions?”

“Just one.” Instead of asking her mother, she turned to face Lucifer. “When are you and my mom getting married?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *to the tune of 'This is Gospel' by Panic at the Disco* *ahem*   
> If you love it let me knooooooooowwwwwwwww (in the comments below 😉)


	10. The Gigolo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. Explicit content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears! If you have visited my [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/), then you know that I had some issues with this chapter, but in the end I think it turned out better than I originally thought. The smut helps 😅  
> In case you haven't noticed, I officially extended the story to 15 chapters! Still hoping it's longer than that as long as the interest is there!  
> Enjoy!

Though no one currently had any food in their mouth, the three adults suddenly found themselves choking as Trixie watched on.

Being the first to recover, Lucifer cleared his throat once before speaking to Trixie. “And where, urchin, did you get the idea that your mother and I would be getting married?”

Trixie looked at him like he was dumb. “You’re having babies together.”

“As Daniel would say, ‘yes, and?’”

“When people have babies together, they get married. Mommy and daddy were married when I was born. Abuela said having children without being married is a sin and that you go to Hell.” She seemed to realize who she was talking to and her face turned serious when she spoke to Lucifer. “Is that true?”

Though the question was directed at Lucifer, it was Dan who answered. “Monkey, Abuela shouldn’t be saying things like that to you.” He added, “I’ll speak with her,” to Chloe. “There are a bunch of different types of families and not all of them have one mommy and one daddy that are married. Just like you. You happened to have a mom and a dad that were married when they had you. But then we got divorced, and that’s okay, right?”

Trixie nodded. “Yeah, this way you can still be friends and be happy.”

“Exactly,” Chloe added. “And now you have your dad and I and even Lucifer, in a weird way.”

“And to answer your question, Beatrice – while it may be considered a _sin,_ which in itself is absurd, having a child out of wedlock does not immediately constitute a one-way ticket to Hell.”

Again, Trixie nods. Then she looks between Chloe and Lucifer. “So, you’re _not_ getting married.”

Chloe immediately responded ‘no’, but Lucifer remained quiet. She shot him a look that said, ‘ _what the hell?_ ’. Regardless, Trixie seemed to be appeased and was now actively digging into her chocolate cake. Chloe followed suit with her lemon bars. That meant that the rest of the table was lurched into a sudden silence.

“There are so many things going through my head right now” Dan broke the silence.

“I’m sure that’s atypical for you.”

“Shut up, man.” Dan turned to Chloe. “You said you went to the doctor’s today?”

“Mhmm” she replied with her mouth full of pastry.

“Which doctor?”

“We saw both the orthopedic surgeon and the OB today.”

“And?” Dan prompted.

Lucifer joined Trixie in eating chocolate cake as Chloe replied. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the gargantuan piece he took. For someone who was so concerned about carbs, he clearly didn’t care about occasional indulgences. “ _And_ everything is good, like I said. Dr. Roberts was upset, obviously, but he was impressed with what I was able to do. I’ve rescheduled my therapy appointments and I’m going to put in all the effort I can to get on my feet again. I made a mistake and I’m not going to let it happen again.”

Dan nods. “What about timelines and percentage of expected recovery?”

“They can’t be sure about timelines until I meet with the PT and OT and see what I can do. I’m hoping it’s not too long before I’m on crutches. Recovery is the same as before. There’ll be good and bad days” Chloe responds.

Dan takes a bite out of the chocolate cake sitting in front of him. “And what about the pregnancy?”

“Also all good. There’s a couple of potential risks involved, namely my age, my injuries, the fact that they’re twins, _and_ they share a sac, but so far it’s a perfectly healthy pregnancy. I’m not totally sure why I was so out of commission, honestly, but I’m almost thirteen weeks so it’s hopefully behind us now.”

“Good. I’m, uh, I’m happy for you two.” At Chloe’s doubtful look, he reiterated. “I am. It’s maybe not what I expected and I’m definitely not thrilled about _how_ it happened,” he said with a pointed glance to where her leg sat underneath the island countertop, “but I can tell that you are excited, Chlo, and that’s good enough for me. If you ever need anything, I’m a call away.” A goofy grin came over his face. “I can’t believe you’re having identical twins. That’s crazy. And I can’t believe that you _are_ an identical twin. Man, how many siblings do you have?” The latter half of the statement directed towards Lucifer.

“That’s a hard question to answer. Technically, anything created by my father and mother are my siblings or half-sibling, I suppose. If we’re talking about pure angels, then twenty. There may be more that I haven’t met since my fall, but Amenadiel hasn’t mentioned any and it would be hard for mum and dad to get it on now that they’re in two separate universes.”

Dan’s head seemed to spin, but Trixie took it all in stride, as usual. She truly inherited her mother’s intelligence. Lucifer wondered if these children would inherit more of Chloe than himself. He hoped so. “If you’re an identical twin, then that means that there is someone that looks exactly like you somewhere?” Trixie asked.

“Yes, child. That is how it works.”

Chloe couldn’t help herself. She knew it was disgusting to imagine, because they’re _brothers_ , but she couldn’t stop her train of thought from wondering what it would be like to be with two Lucifers. It was completely irrational; even though they look alike, twins have totally different personalities. This was more of a fantasy. A ‘what-if Lucifer could be cloned?’. As she was imagining it, she felt her face get hot but thankfully it seemed no one was the wiser as they were listening to Lucifer talk about Michael. Chloe physically shook her head to clear the thoughts and tuned back into what Lucifer was saying.

“—identical in nearly every way. But rest assured, I’m still the more handsome one.”

“Then how do we tell you apart?” Chloe’s daughter asked.

“That’s not something you need to concern yourself with, Beatrice. While I’ll never again see the Silver City, Michael is likely to never leave.”

“But what if he does?”

“He won’t.” Lucifer assured her.

“But what if he _does_? How will I know who’s who?”

With a heavy sigh, Lucifer knows that she’ll keep it up until she gets an answer she deems appropriate. “Well, in the impossible likelihood that my brother does appear on Earth _and_ in Los Angeles to boot, there are some things that are different. He doesn’t have my lovely voice, though I suppose he could fake that if he tried. He doesn’t have my fashion sense either. He’s much more inclined to wear the robes of the Silver City. Most obviously though, he doesn’t have my memories. We may look identical, but we are different people, urchin.”

Chloe doesn’t think that Lucifer realizes it, but she thinks that he may have just taught a very valuable lesson to Trixie about the twins she was currently carrying.

Dan finished off his slice of cake and pushed the plate away from him. “What gives with your names? You have Amenadiel and Michael and then _Lucifer_?”

“Also Uriel, Remiel, Azrael, Castiel, Gabriel, etc. etc. Yes. And your point?”

“Why do they all end in -el except for yours?”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at Dan, impressed with his sleuthing. “They’re angels. I’m the devil. The root ‘-iel’ or ‘-ael’,” he spelt them out, “means ‘Of God’. The devil is, and therefore _I’m,_ quite literally the opposite of that.”

“But you weren’t always, right? You were an angel. You _are_ an angel, in a sense. Unless you were destined to fall?”

“No, Daniel. I was not destined to fall. I used to go by a different name, but it is no longer appropriate.” At Dan’s mouth opening, Lucifer quickly cut him off. “And _no_ , I won’t tell you what it was. It is the name of a being that no longer exists.”

Chloe caught Trixie try and fail to hide a yawn. One sideways glance at Dan tells her that he caught it too. He stands from his chair and makes his way over to Trix. “Come on, kid. I think it’s time to head home to bed.”

Trixie furrowed angrily. “I’m not tired! Plus, why can’t we stay here tonight?”

Chloe looked at Dan wondering the same thing, assuming that’s where the night was heading anyways.

Lucifer spoke up. “You and the spawn can stay the night.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Consider it an open invitation. As long as it is okay with the detective, of course.”

Chloe nodded and voiced her agreement, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little disappointed in a backwards way. She was hoping that her and Lucifer would have some time alone to talk about some things. She found out so much today that she didn’t previously know about him. A twin brother? Twenty siblings? A different name? And what was with the hesitation when Trixie was asking about marriage? On top of all of that, she’s both wide awake, thanks to her nap, and turned on and she was hoping that Lucifer may be able to help tire her out in order to get her to sleep. Regardless, she hasn’t seen her daughter in far too long and between the injury and pregnancy, the last thing Chloe wants is for Trixie to feel unwanted.

Dan must have noticed the hesitancy in her eyes because he was suddenly unsure. “Are you sure, Chloe? If not, it’s totally fine.” Trixie’s face told Chloe that it wasn’t ‘totally fine’ in her daughter’s eyes.

“No, Dan. I would love it if you guys could stay the night. I miss spending time with you.”

Dan and Trixie went off to tuck the twelve-year old into bed after she gave Chloe a long hug and kiss. Dan returned to the kitchen a little bit later, where Lucifer and Chloe were casually chatting. “If you guys don’t mind, it’s actually been a pretty long day and I’m exhausted. I’d love to head to bed.” Lucifer and Chloe both responded simply with a ‘goodnight’, but Dan remained hovering next to the island. After a curious look from the more permanent residents of the penthouse, he added “I’m not totally sure where you want me to bunk for the night. I really don’t mind camping out on the couch, but I also don’t wanna watch you two in bed all night if you’re sleeping together. In the same bed, I mean. Sleeping.” He tried to hide his grimace from his floundering, but he failed. He continued regardless. “But I don’t want to take the bed in the guest room if Chloe’s sleeping there. No judgment or anything. Just trying to not step on any toes.”

Chloe looked at Lucifer, but Lucifer just looked back at Chloe waiting for her to make the call. “Dan, you can have the guest room.”

Dan made a face. “I know I said no judgements, and this isn’t a judgement really, just – remember that there’s not a door to the bedroom and there’s a little girl down the hall who doesn’t deserve to be scarred by accidentally walking by and seeing something she wished she hadn’t.” With that, Dan took off down the hall before Chloe could respond with a “duh”. The quiet click of the door shutting announced he was in bed for the night.

Lucifer sat their plates in the sink and helped Chloe to her feet. He attempted to pick her up, but she stopped him. He placed the walker in front of her and they walked side by side to the stairs leading up to the bed. The three steps took her much longer to navigate then she would like to admit, but in the end all that matters is that she did it. The last four feet to the bed were a struggle. It took willpower she didn’t know she had to finish. She finally laid in the bed and though she found herself suddenly exhausted, she was beaming.

Lucifer has their nighttime routine down to an art, and even though she almost never spent the night in his room (bar last night), the routine didn’t change much. After ensuring their guests were safely in their rooms and getting changed himself, he helped her strip down and get changed into pajamas. After he pulled a long t-shirt over her, he stripped her of her pants. He had gotten used to seeing her naked beneath him in a vulnerable but innocent way. It was for that reason that it was such a shock for him to see her underwear wet with her arousal. He raised an eyebrow. Immediately she apologized.

Groaning, he lowered his head to the outside of her right hip. He heard her sharp intake of air, but he simply rested his forehead there, eyes closed. After a beat, he raised his head and looked at her. “What will it take for you to understand that you needn’t ever apologize to me. _Especially_ for this. Why are you apologizing for this?”

Chloe’s voice was quiet and shy. “I don’t know. It’s embarrassing.”

Lucifer laid his hand gently on the inside curve of her left leg underneath the shirt, just far enough away that it would be innocuous if she weren’t naked from the waist down. “I fail to see how. Would you like me to do something for you?”

“When you say it like that, you sound like a prostitute.”

“I’m not a prostitute. I’m not getting paid.”

Chloe just swallowed a laugh and grinned. “Actually, I was hoping to talk to you. Maybe then you can be my discount gigolo.”

Lucifer didn’t bother muffling his laugh and it was loud enough that Chloe covered his mouth and stopped him from making another sound in order to hear if it woke the rest of the family. When she determined it was okay, Lucifer quickly finished pulling a pair of sleep shorts on her and placing the support pillow under the fixator before sliding next to her and covering them up with the comforter. He looked over at her when he was done and saw her staring. A witty retort was on the tip of his tongue, but it was silenced when he looked in her eyes, getting lost. She was gorgeous, but he decided it was her eyes that stole the show. Some days they were a hazy green among a sky of blue, some days they were closer to gray, but there was an intelligence in them that he rarely saw in humans. Not necessarily intelligence that would guarantee a good mark on an exam, though that was there as well. More of an unyielding desire to _understand_ _everything_. To leave no stone unturned. Including him.

“A lot happened today” she started.

“Indeed. None of it makes for good pillow talk.” She scoffed, but he could tell there was something she was trying to say. “Was there something specific you had in mind?”

“Let’s start with how you’re dealing with the pregnancy so far.”

His eyebrows wrinkled and her face grew a little softer. She looked at him in adoration and it has been literal ages since anyone’s looked at him like that. “Sound a bit like Dr. Martin, love. And shouldn’t that be my question to you? You are, after all, the one doing all the heavy lifting. Literally.”

She rolled her eyes. “You found out with 100% certainty today that you’re going to be a father. To identical twins. What are you thinking?”

Lucifer sighed and rolled on his back, staring at her reflection in the black ceiling. “I’m afraid I’m going to let you down.”

Chloe wasn’t expecting such an honest and open answer. She laid a hand on his chest to redirect his gaze back to her. She totally ignored the feel of his skin and his heart beginning to race underneath her palm. Now’s not the time. Pull yourself together, Decker. “Lucifer, why are you afraid of letting me down? Look at all you’re doing for me.” She knew he had no time for wasted platitudes.

“Two offspring. That’s double the chances of doing something wrong. I _want_ to do this right, but I feel as though I’m destined to do it all wrong.”

“If it means anything, I don’t think you’re going to screw it up.”

Lucifer merely nods. “You said ‘let’s start with’. That implies there’s more.”

There was more she wanted to say to him about that, but she decided to not test her luck any more than she already was. “Care to talk about the fact that before today, you never mentioned you had twenty siblings and that one of them was your identical twin?”

“You humans really get caught up on this ‘twin’ business, don’t you? It’s truly not that big a deal. Michael looks like me. That is where the similarities begin and end. He’s a pompous arse and we don’t speak. That’s the same reason I don’t speak of my siblings. They simply share the same parents as me. Blood doesn’t always make a family, detective.”

Chloe subconsciously runs her hand across the flat planes of his chest and doesn’t realize that she’d been rolling her knuckles over his nipple until the obvious tenting under the sheet caught the corner of her eye. She decided not to press the topic seeing as he hadn’t dissuaded her. She continued to play her movements off as unintentional and run her hands over the swell of his pec, letting her fingertips brush against his nipple. A soft inhale let her know that he was enjoying it, but she pretended she didn’t hear it.

“So, you had another name? You told me Lucifer Morningstar was your ‘God-given’ name.”

“A bluff. Both ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Morningstar’ come from the second half of my original name.”

Her hand slowly drifted down to the angled muscles making up his obliques. She thrilled in the feeling of the muscles jumping under her fingertips. “What was your original name?”

He paused for a moment of time long enough to make her wonder if she’d gone too far. “I do not go by that name anymore, so it is of no consequence.” A hand came up and landed on hers. Busted. “And don’t think I don’t know the game you’re playing. I _invented_ the game you’re playing.”

Chloe simply looked at him, guiltless. “Call me curious.”

Lucifer was vividly reminded of Trixie just a couple hours ago, pestering him to tell her how to tell Michael and him apart. They shared the stubborn furrow in their brows. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”

“Nope” she said, popping the p in a commendable imitation of him that day she woke up hungover in his bed.

He sunk into the golden silk sheets and placed a hand over his face. “If I tell you, you’ll never tell anyone? You won’t make any remarks? Never to be mentioned again.”

“Maybe.”

“Chloe— “

“Okay, okay. Fine. If it’s something stupid like “Bobael” though— Oh wait! Is it Daniel? That would be awesome!” she laughed at the undignified look he gave her.

“‘Bobael’? Seriously? And _no_ , it’s not Daniel. There was a Daniel, though he wasn’t one of my siblings. Ostentatious, as usual.” She didn’t answer though. Instead, she laid there waiting for him to answer the real question.

He closed his eyes before he spoke. “Samael, the Lightbringer.”

There was a quiet moment long enough to encourage him to open his eyes and peek over at her.

“On a scale from 1-10, how unwelcome would a ‘Sammy’ joke be right now?”

“Depends on whether or not you were expecting this night to end in explicit pleasure or me camping out on the couch.” He hid it well externally but hearing her speak his childhood nickname had his chest feel as if someone stuffed cotton in it. He wasn’t sure if he liked the feeling or not.

“Okay, no jokes. Got it.”

He rolled over and knelt over her small body, dwarfing it with his much larger one. “Far be it from me to deprive you of your desires, but are you sure this is okay with your child and ex down the hall? I never pegged you as an exhibitionist.”

The position they were in reminded her of the night nearly thirteen weeks ago that started all of this. Not the pain and hurt, but the feeling of him inside of her and the brief glimpse she got of the look on his face when he came undone. What she wouldn’t do to get to bear witness to that again. “Well if you’d put a damn door up to your bedroom, we wouldn’t have to worry about this. She just fell asleep. She should be out until the morning, or just about. Dan knows better. We’re fine.”

That was all the encouragement he needed as he swooped down to capture her lips in a kiss. It was the type of kiss that stole every ounce of oxygen from her lungs, yet she couldn’t love it more. With his lips still pressed against hers, he asked “What do you need?”

“I’ve spent all day looking at you all dressed up in your ridiculous outfit and your hair gelled back. You’ve looked so perfect all day long. I want to watch you come undone and see you look a little less perfect.”

His head pulled away a little. “What can I do for _you_?” She recognized the gentle turn in the sentence to put the focus on her instead of him, as usual.

“I want to make _you_ feel good.”

“I can say with utmost honesty that _nothing_ makes me feel better than being the sole perpetrator of your bliss.”

Lucifer watched as her cheeks tinged with pink and he didn’t want to ruin what could be a good moment with her embarrassment. “What if I ask this way? Would you rather have my fingers,” said appendages moving up to tease her nipple through her thin shirt, “or my mouth?” His lips moving to suck at the soft space underneath her jawbone.

Chloe’s face deepened once again, but this time she answered. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not really up to anything crazy. I just want to come. Maybe just your fingers tonight?”

“Your wish is my command.” He placed a gentle love bite at the corner of her jaw before returning to the spot that he was previously kissing, hellbent to leave a mark. His opposite hand trailed down her body until his fingers found her wet and wanting under her sleep shorts. She moaned, but their kiss muffled it before any unsuspecting ears were any the wiser. Which was a pity because in Lucifer’s mind, there wasn’t a prettier sound to be found anywhere than the sound of her succumbing to her desires.

“No hickeys” she scolded. Despite her command, she held his head against the spot and tilted her head to give him more room.

Pleased with her response, he nudged her left leg with his knee to encourage her to spread her legs for him. He slowly parted her folds and allowed his hand to just stroke her where she was most sensitive without penetration.

“Lucifer” she threatened.

He chuckled against her neck and eased his middle finger into her, softly working her with a slow rhythm. What Chloe lacked in actual words during sex she made up with sounds and Lucifer found proud in himself that even though he couldn’t force her desires out of her like others, he was still able to read her well enough to know when she was asking for more. He pushed his index finger in with the next thrust of his hand and pushed the palm of his hand against her clit. Her sharp inhale pulled him away from his spot at her neck, allowing himself to look at her.

Chloe’s eyes were pursed shut in concentration, but her jaw was slack, casting her face in a beautiful juxtaposition. Her fingers were pulling tight against his hair, her hips rolling against his hand. His opposite hand moved down from where it was against her face to cup a breast. The action warranted a breathy gasp and while it wasn’t loud enough to be detected from down the hall, she was toeing the line.

“Quiet now, detective. An interruption at this point would be most unwelcome, wouldn’t it?”

Her needy whine and desperate nod had his cock jumping behind the seam of his sleep pants. There was no friction to be found against the soft silk and he was nearly desperate to take himself in hand, but no, he couldn’t. Focus on Chloe.

She was biting her lip and her hips were stuttering. “Close,” she whispered.

He pinched a nipple through her shirt. “Come now, detective. I want to feel you come on my fingers. Feel your muscles clenching, desperate for something bigger. Aching for something more satisfying.” He rolled her clit under the heel of his hand, his fingers pistoning in and out of her wet heat. He watched as her head tipped further back into the pillow and felt as her fingernails dug into his back as she lost herself to her orgasm. He continued to lazily rub at her clit until she pulled away from him with oversensitivity. Lucifer pulled his hand from her shorts and licked his fingers clean, making her groan. The spot where he attached himself under her jaw was showing signs of darkening and it was a relief to see her skin marked with something that told a story of pleasure, not pain.

His arousal was no secret under his pants, and he was aching for relief. He rolled off of Chloe and tried to calm himself with deep breaths, but this was an erection that was determined to be handled, quite literally. Chloe was still collecting herself when Lucifer stood from the bed, back towards her.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Just to the bathroom.”

“Why?”

He turned at her and raised an eyebrow, humor behind his eyes. “Seriously? Don’t tell me you’re starting to get _clingy_.”

“ _No._ But I don’t want you running to take care of yourself when you have a perfectly capable and willing person here to do it for you.”

He felt his cock give another valiant twitch and he just barely withheld his groan. That was in fact his intention, but he couldn’t tell her that on account of potentially hurting her feelings or risking falling prey to her. “I’m going to go clean off my face and hair. I forgot earlier. It’s been a while.” Not a lie. A change of plans.

Chloe seemed genuinely surprised and it made Lucifer feel a little guilty. “Oh. You’re not going to finish?”

The small Lucifer that lived in his inner consciousness squashed a little at the missed opportunity, but he wouldn’t lie to her. “No, I have no plans on wanking, detective.” With that, he made off for the bathroom and quickly and efficiently cleaned off his face and washed through his hair to remove the product. His erection waning under the tiresome tasks. When he made his way back to the bedroom, he found Chloe asleep already. He sighed realizing that he really was going to have to go to sleep half-hard and crawled under the covers next to her, promptly falling asleep.

_Suddenly he is very aware of a hand on his cock. He keeps his eyes closed, relishing in the drag of the strokes. He’s gone so long without any touch that he’s hard in an instant. Without opening his eyes, he knows it’s Chloe. He’s not one hundred percent sure how he knows. He just does. It’s instinctual. It’s verified when there’s a dirty twist on his cock and he reflexively opens his eyes._

_“Hey baby. I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”_

_She’s naked in front of him and she’s perfect. Not a blemish in sight. Before he knows it, she’s straddling him and guiding him to her entrance. He can feel his heart beating wildly against his skin in anticipation. Then she’s sinking down him in a graceful slide and he swears his heart stops beating all together._

_Her hands are restless, touching everything she can reach on him. Her fingers brushing against his nipples, causing him to nearly buck her off his lap. She moves one hand up her body to play with a breast and the other hand up his chest. She just lays it flat against his sternum and he is positive that she can feel the wild beast that is his heart. It is fantastic and amazing, and he’s never been this speechless in his life. Despite all that, he couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right. He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth though, and he took his chance to slide his hands up the long expanses of her thighs. When he reached the globes of her ass, he squeezed, and she threw her head back in a moan. He easily took the burden of her weight and lifted her up and down his cock. Her moans were getting more and more breathy and higher in pitch, indicating her inevitable release, which only spurred his on. The corded muscles in her thigh began to quiver under his fingertips and he was sure he was about to burst and then—_

“Lucifer!”

He wasn’t sure if it was her voice of her insistent shaking against him, but Chloe woke him up from an amazing dream. He didn’t need to look to know he was about one breeze away from soaking the sheets with his seed. “Bloody hell.”

He threw an arm over his face and tried every trick in the book. He tried deep breaths and pinching his arm and imagining Amenadiel in a speedo, but nothing. His erection was not going down.

“I know you must’ve been having a pretty amazing dream, but you were getting pretty vocal and I didn’t want you to wake up the rest of the house.”

“My deepest apologies for waking you, detective. I’ll just wait this out.”

Something hard and pointy – an elbow, perhaps? – hit him solidly in the ribcage.

“Ow.”

“You’re being ridiculous. I don’t know why you won’t just…y’know, _fix the problem_. Or let _me_ fix the problem.”

Lucifer moved his arm just enough to peek one eye at Chloe, trying to gauge her sincerity. Eventually, he sighed. “Very well.”

“Very well? What does that me—”

“I clearly need to do something about it and if given the option between your hand or mine, I’d rather yours. If it’s okay with you. Don’t feel pressure—” He couldn’t even complete the sentence before her hand found itself wrapped around his dick. He grunted with the sudden onslaught of sensation. She seemed enthusiastic enough about doing it, which lowered his guilt levels slightly.

“Remember, you have to be quiet though. I’m pretty sure Dan and Trix are still asleep, but we don’t want to take any chances.”

Lucifer nearly choked on a laugh of irony because the second she said that she brought her other hand down to cup his balls and he could’ve shouted from the pure pleasure.

It was his recent celibacy and his near wet dream that had him on the verge after no time whatsoever. The only reason he lasted this long was him fighting his residual guilt about experiencing his pleasure again after injuring her the last time he gave his pleasure to her. He was thrusting into her hand that was too dry and he’s sure there’s going to be chafing later but he couldn’t really care less right now. Just before he reached the point of no return, he hears a loud squeak and Trixie’s high-pitched “ohmygodimsosorry”. He feels Chloe pull her hand away and he’s lost at sea right now. He was _so_ _close,_ and he can still feel it, but his need to make sure everything is okay overweighed his need for completion. His eyes jump open and while he was _sure_ that he heard Trixie’s voice, he saw no sign of her. All he saw was Chloe’s mortified expression.

“Chloe?”

“She saw us.”

“Clearly not all of us. We’re still under the covers.”

“ _Lucifer_!” she hissed. “Trixie _saw_ us.”

“Yes, _and?”_

She stared at him for a second before turning to stand from the bed which promptly made him pull up his pants that had been pushed down around his thighs, stand, and rush over to her side. The sudden blood rush making him a little dizzy in the process, but he ignored it. He’s encouraging her to sit back down as she’s whisper screaming at him to ‘put some damn clothes on’.

“Darling, I’m weari—” her glare causes him to quickly amend the statement. “I will put _more_ clothes on once you tell me what you’re doing.”

“I need to go talk to my daughter” she replies as she stubbornly attempts to stand back up.

“Is that really the best idea right now? Don’t you think she needs some time and space to process?”

“No. I need to make sure she’s okay. Jesus, Dan seriously specifically warned us not to do exactly this, scar Trixie. So what do we do? Scar Trixie. Now either get me my wheelchair or move so I can get it.”

He smartly grabs the wheelchair for her and sits her on it at the bottom of the stairs. She wheels down the hall after once again yelling at him to put on a shirt. He watches as she knocks on Trixie’s door. There’s a response, but it’s muffled from the distance and volume. Chloe’s response is no clearer. Lucifer resigns himself to sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees and a hand running through his hair as he contemplates his erection angrily. So far he is two-for-two with Chloe. He let his desire control a situation again and he screwed something else up for Chloe. The answer was clear. He faltered, but not again. He will not be tempted to come undone again. He couldn’t risk it for Chloe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated! (Sorry, too tired to think of anything funny)  
> -  
> Visit my [tumblr](https://whatsaidwhoao3.tumblr.com/) for more up to date information on the story. I post daily updates!

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, let me know! Comments and kudos are good for the soul. Follow me on tumblr, @whatsaidwhoAO3, for updates in real time on the story and be a part of the story writing process!


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